Maitland ABA Results. 3D This Weekend.

The 2011 Northern NSW regional archery circuit kicked off over the weekend with 120 competitors on hand for the first 2 day tournament of the year held at Maitland in very hot and oppressive conditions. 22 archers from Gunnedah made the trip returning with 10 gold, 7 silver and 2 bronze medals underlining the depth of archery talent in the local club.

The tournament was an ABA event commencing on Saturday morning with a 3 arrow round followed by the high pressure 1 arrow round on Saturday afternoon with the event wrapping up on Sunday with a 2 arrow all count round.

Darrell Hudson was in brilliant form scoring an impressive win in Recurve A grade winning by over 200 pints from Taree’s Karl Peck with another Gunnedah archer, Peter Stubbs in third. Hudson put his stamp on the event from the beginning setting a new Branch record in the 3 arrow round and finishing the weekend with a stunning display in the 2 arrow round.

Denise Stevenson was another archer in record breaking form setting a new record in the Bowhunter Limited division for the 1 arrow round on her way to a superb win over a duo from Gloucester.

Mark Stevenson scored a good win in Longbow C grade while Greg Scott scored the silver in a crack Bowhunter Unlimited Flight 2 field missing the win by just 2 points after a hard fought battle with Tony Gavan from the Central Coast. Peter Bush took silver in Bowhunter Unlimited Flight 1 after a very solid performance.

The club’s female compound archers performed extremely well with Karen Hudson taking gold in the Masters contest, Ann Stubbs finishing 3rd in A grade and Wendi Murrell shooting brilliantly to take B grade.

Nathan Murrell grabbed the silver in A grade in the Mens competition.

The strength of Gunnedah’s junior archery program was evident with Sebastian Donovan taking gold in Freestyle Unlimited Flight 1 and Zac Hayne and Lachlan Scott finishing 1 -2 in Flight 2. Both Hayne and Scott must be on the verge of a well deserved promotion to the elite Flight 1 category based on their recent outstanding form.

Jarrod Stubbs scored the silver in the A grade Compound event while Stacey Scott and Haylee Murrell scored the quinella in Cub Compound B grade with sisters Kaytlyn Murrell and Emylie Murrell also scored a 1-2 finish in Cub Compound D grade.

Sophie Donovan showed her liking for the Maitland layout scoring a runaway win in the Cub Freestyle Limited contest setting a new Branch record in the 3 arrow round with an outstanding display of precision archery. Donovan now holds the Branch record for both the 3 arrow and 1 arrow ABA rounds with both record scores shot at Maitland.

The focus returns to club activities this weekend with a 2 round 3D event set down for Sunday with a sausage sizzle between rounds.