Outdoor Archery Season, 2001

Summary

Fita average

 Dist	 Hits  Golds    Score   Low  High  S. Dev. Num
  90m   36.00   3.78   276.00   258   290  10.5198   9
  70m   36.00   7.10   301.70   286   320   8.4030  10
  50m   36.00   6.30   304.30   295   317   6.9000  10
  30m   36.00  17.00   336.10   327   345   6.5643  10
  All  144.00  35.11  1220.67  1185  1247  21.0555   9

Competitions

Victoria Fita Star, 16th-17th June

As with the first tournament of the previous year, this one didn't really start too well. A miscalculation resulted in my missing the ferry, and bad traffic caused by a triathlon meant that I arrived just at the start of the 70m. There was quite a tricky breezy wind on Saturday, but Sunday was a very good day for shooting. My scores did not reflect how well I felt I was shooting; several minor equipment failures and stupid mistakes affected the totals, but my shot rhythm was better than for some previous years.

Canada Cup, 14th-15th July

First. If there was a theme to this weekend it was `pity about the 70m' distances. The weather was good, sunny and bright on Saturday, but with a bit of wind later in the day, and overcast and calm or light winds for much of Sunday. I had good 90m distances on both days, both marred by one bad end, and struggled to commit to the shot at 70m, finally getting it right at the last end of Sunday's 70m with a 57. The 50m distances were alright, 50m starting very well on Saturday and finishing mediocre, and starting mediocre on Sunday and finishing well. I was pleased with the 30m scores, because I was getting tired from holding too long.

The ranking for the elimination round was done on the long metric from Saturday, and the short metric from Sunday, so that those shooting a split Fita could qualify. Hugh Macdonald had elected to shoot the split Fita, and qualified first with an excellent score in the 1270s. In the elimination round, I had an easy quarter final, then made it through the semi-final to beat Roger "Bear" Murray even though I deliberately shot an arrow through the clicker (it went in the 4)! The final was shot with 40 seconds for alternating arrows, but collecting after each 6 arrows instead of 3 to save time. The extra time helped me a lot, and my first six arrows scored 58 to put Hugh on the defensive. I held on with six safe shots to take a five point victory, winning my third successive Canada Cup.

Sherwood International, 15th-16th July

Second. This was a long and tiring weekend. The traffic was really bad getting to and from Sherwood; I did not have much to drink at the shoot (it is known for its sociable atmosphere), and consequently managed to shoot a reasonable score on Saturday. Sunday's score was not so good, probably because I drove 100 miles to attend a friend's wedding on Saturday evening, over-indulged, went to bed at 1 AM, and then got up at 5:30 AM and drove 100 miles back to Sherwood for the second day of shooting. I held onto second place, comfortably behind Brian Funston, who is now one of the resident athletes at the U.S. Arco Training centre. We (the Oregon/Washington team) thrashed the Nottingham England team in all divisions. The English team had to put up with cold blustery winds, whereas we had very hot and sunny conditions, including dust devil that blew across the field removing all the flags from the targets.

Jolly Archers Open Western, 29 July

First. Note to self: the Fens are not a good place to shoot; St. Ives and the surrounding country is absolutely flat, with no protection from the wind. I shot this tournament for fun the day after flying in to Britain from Seattle. It was very windy but also hot and sunny, which somewhat compensated for the wind, making it pleasant enough to shoot in shorts. I won quite convincingly, but didn't achieve the scores I would have liked because of the wind. The Jolly Archers put on a fine buffet dinner, complete with desserts, while the scores were being added up. Fortunately, the smell from the neighbouring pig farm (upwind, of course) did not put me off!

Scottish Championships, 4th-5th August

The week before the Scottish Championships I shot some great scores in practice, and in the practice before the tournament I was shooting very well. The moment the whistle to shoot blew, I tensed up and shot badly. There were a few highlights, a couple of new club records and an all-gold 30m, but overall I was quite disappointed with my scores. Simon Needham completely dominated the gent's scores with two 1300s, and a couple of visitors from England took second and third place. The weather was variable; there were showers at the start of each distance, but it was moderately warm overall.

Victoria Fita Star, 25th-26th August

A cold, wet, blustery weekend. Actually, that's what we agreed to tell everyone else; it was really sunny, warm, and calm, and perfect conditions, but from Sunday's scores you wouldn't have known it. My shot timing was too slow on Saturday, leading to fatigue. I also got distracted by a judges timing error, lost my shot rhythm, and for the first time ever shot 7 arrows in an end at 70m. I let this upset me, and did not recover quickly enough. My shot timing was much better on Sunday, but a string of inexplicable bad scoring ends at 50m made me lose confidence and revert to poorer form. On the positive side, the tournament organiser Tracy Klat bucked the trend for poor scores on Sunday and finally got her 1200 star.

Maple Ridge Fita Star, 8th-9th September

This was quite a contrast with the previous year. The weather was warm, sunny, and calm in the mornings, with a breeze starting up during the afternoon. I was working on improving my timing and rhythm all weekend. On Saturday, I felt that I was shooting well, but the shot seemed to be very critical. On Sunday, I modified the way I set up my bow-hand, improving by nearly 40 points!