Namoi Valley Archers sent a 16 member team to the NSW State ABA Championships held at Gloucester over the long weekend returning with 7 gold, 6 silver and 1 bronze medal in another top class performance by the club. Competitors faced very difficult conditions over the weekend with steady rain falling on both days and this, added to the tough ranges prepared for the event made top class scores hard to come by. The Gloucester ranges feature some very challenging shots with the ranges set in well forested country with gullies and some steep terrain making distance judgement difficult. The championships were conducted over 2 days with competitors shooting 2 x 20 target rounds on each day.
Wade Hudson reigned supreme in the Masters division finishing the championships as the overall highest Mens compound point scorer recording a comprehensive win. Hudson did not have it all his own way though trailing Robin Huckett by 2 points after the first day of competition but Hudson turned up the heat on the second day turning in 2 brilliant rounds which left Huckett floundering in his wake. Karen Hudson also turned in a quality performance scoring the trophy for the overall highest Womens compound score on her way to winning B grade with Amy Stubbs making it a quinella for the club in this division. Ann Stubbs was another archer to perform well scoring a superb victory in C grade setting the win up with a personal best score in the first round. Matthew Wittman and Ben Stubbs added to the medal haul scoring silver medals in B grade and C grade respectively. Darrell Hudson blitzed the field in the Recurve event scoring a runaway win from Tamworth’s Bruce Sherwood with Peter Stubbs grabbing third for the Gunnedah club. Gordon White had to battle hard for the win in Mens Freestyle Unlimited flight 2 holding off a surge from Kempsey veteran, Cec Apps, over the final 2 rounds to score a narrow 8 point win. Denise Stevenson finished with silver in the Womens Freestyle Unlimited contest and Ken Thompson also had to settle for silver running into a red hot local in Liam Mowbray in the Freestyle Recurve event. Matthew Jauja shot brilliantly over the weekend to score an excellent win in Junior Freestyle Unlimited and must be due for promotion to the top flight in the very near future. Shane Thompson also showed his class shooting very consistently over the four rounds to record the win in Freestyle recurve while Jarrod Stubbs rounded out the medal count with a well deserved second place in Junior A grade compound.
