Five Gold At World Field Archery Championships
Hervey Bay was the location for the IFAA World Field Archery Championships hosted by the Wide Bay Archers club between the 12th and 16th of June. Terrential rain on the days leading up to the event made for wet conditions, turning the usually flat terrain into what can only be termed a swamp in some places. After five day’s shooting for up to seven hours per day and over six hundred competitors, from 15 different nations, shooting in these conditions the ranges held up remarkably well.
Namoi Valley Archers sent a fifteen member team to what was and will probably be the largest event these archers may ever get the opportunity to compete in. The WFAC is the pinnacle event in field archery and is the closest thing this style of archery has to an Olympic comparison. After many months of training and at great individual expense the event had arrived and the representatives done Namoi Valley Archers club proud.
Wade Hudson smashed the competition and set a new world record to take out the gold in Junior Boys Bowhunter Compound Class A, Wade stamped his superiority in this division from the first day and never looked like being threatened winning by 45 points after the five days, Wades first World gold medal will hang proudly next to his Australian title claimed in April this year.
Jodi Dolbel shot superbly to take out the gold in Womens Freestyle Unlimited Class B, Jodi has only been shooting competitively for just over a year now and has improved at a rate many archers envy, Jodi shot personal best scores on almost every day and blitzed the field with a huge personal best on the last day to cement the win and undoubtedly put herself in place for a well deserved move into the A Class ranks in future shoots.
Jamie Thompson shot well to take out gold in the Junior Boys Bowhunter Limited Class C group narrowly beating fellow Australian Ben Hanrahan by two points in a tough competition.
Not to be outdone by the Junior and Senior shooters the cubs also performed well in this global event, Shane Thompson shot outstandingly shooting a new world record to take out gold in Cub Boys Freestyle Limited Recurve. Emelia Dolbel also shot well to take out gold in Cub Girl Freestyle Limited Compound. The experience will make these two archers a force to be reckoned with as they progress into the Junior ranks in the near future.
Joshua Dolbel shot above his grade to take silver in Junior Boys Freestyle Unlimited Class B, Josh found his feet in the muddy conditions to shoot a number of personal best scores but just fell short of securing the gold, Josh is another archer that will find himself moved into class A after this sterling performance.
In Bowhunter Limited Class A Stuart Dolbel finished well with a bronze, after being ranked sixth on the third day Stuart strung two strong days together and on the last day beat the current Australian champion in the division by one point to take the third place on the world podium, a sweet victory after a narrow loss to the fourth place archer at the National titles earlier this year.
Steve Jaeger shot well but was against the best Freestyle Limited shooters in the world and after shooting a number of PB’s came in at number four, a huge effort in such a quality field. Cassie Neuendorf, Darryl Hudson & Rob Porter all competed well to take out fourth place in their respective divisions an effort well worth a mention. Other rankings included Ken Thompson eleventh, Sam Bates thirty second, Ben Ireland thirty fifth and Dave Buckingham forty fifth.
A full list of the results can be seen on the Australian Bowhunter Association IFAA WFAC website at http://www.bowhunters.org.au/wfac/results.htm
