ABA Nationals

Namoi Valley Archers sent a 9 member team to the Australian Field Archery Championships held in Mildura over the Easter weekend. The tournament was held over 4 days with 2 field archery disciplines contested, The ABA national round and the ABA 3D round with the team returning with 7 gold, 1 silver and 3 bronze medals across the two events. In an amazing turn of events the organizers were forced to cancel the 2nd round of the 3D event on Friday afternoon when a huge dust storm which originated in South Australia enveloped the Mildura area, a region that was just recovering from major flooding. Phillip Greenwood scored double gold after winning the Veterans Barebow in both the ABA and 3D events shooting with great consistency over the four days. Coonabarabran based Greenwood travels plenty of kilometres to shoot with the Gunnedah club every fortnight and this result was just reward for his hard work and dedication to the sport. In the ABA event Darrell Hudson bounced back to his best form to score the gold medal in Recurve A grade with a superb performance across the four rounds. Hudson held the lead after the first round but was overtaken in the second round and was still trailing going into the final round but stormed to the lead in the last round to finish a narrow 2 point victor after a memorable contest. Mark Stevenson scored double gold winning in the Freestyle Recurve division with a fine display of archery, a feat repeated by Denise Stevenson in Freestyle Limited Compound. Ann Stubbs was another archer to shine across both disciplines finishing with the bronze medal in both the ABA and 3D events in the very competitive Womens A grade compound divison. Peter Stubbs showed his liking for the 3D targets finishing with a top class final round to grab the silver medal in Recurve A grade in a very satisfying display. Karen Hudson was another archer who enjoyed the 3D event rounding out the medal haul with a hard earned bronze medal in Womens Masters Compound. Hudson was disappointed with her showing in the ABA event but showed plenty of mental toughness to bounce back to form and confirm her place among the elite female compound archers in Australia.
The focus returned to club action on Sunday with competitors taking to the IFAA range for a 28 target Animal round. Barebow compound archer, Wade Hudson, turned in a truly amazing round shooting brilliantly to finish the day as the second highest scorer overall with only one sighted shooter beating his score. This round was the start of Hudson’s buildup to the World IFAA Championships to be held In Argentina later in the year and based on this display he looks right on track for a big performance. Karen Hudson finished in second place with Ann Stubbs in third. Greg Donovan led the sighted shooters home finishing just 2 points in front of his son, Sebastian with John Clark in third. Darrell Hudson was the best of the traditional archers with Peter Stubbs in second and Jarrod Stubbs in third.

ABA Round before the big one.

Namoi Valley Archers held a 2 round ABA event on Sunday giving competitors valuable match practice for this weekend’s Australian Championships to be held at Mildura. The Australian Championships will be contested in 2 unmarked distance field archery disciplines, the ABA National round and the 3D round. The 9 member team travelling to the tournament have had the benefit of shooting both disciplines at club level over the last 2 weekends and are looking forward to testing themselves at a National level. For the second week in a row competitors faced a very well crafted course with Boundary Range designers, Bernie Hayne and Nathan Murrell, making archers think about every shot with clever target placement and wonderful use of the natural terrain. Karen Hudson made a welcome return to form on the weekend shooting 2 quality rounds to score an impressive win in the Compound event. Hudson has been struggling to come to grips with a new bow but looks to have turned the corner after making some changes just before this shoot. Ann Stubbs had to work hard to grab second place just holding off a spirited challenge from her son, Jarrod in the battle for the minor placing’s. Phil Greenwood scored a very narrow win in the Traditional contest setting up the win with an impressive first round. Greenwood had to withstand a barnstorming finish from Peter Stubbs in the final round to hang for the win by just 6 points with Darrell Hudson in third. John Clark did just enough to hold off the opposition in the Sighted contest securing the win by just 4 points from Greg Donovan and Zac Hayne who finished in a dead heat for the minor placings in a very tight contest. The next club shoot is set down for April 15th with registration closing at 9.00am for a 9.30am start on the range.
Scores
Compound - Karen Hudson 700, Ann Stubbs 598, Jarrod Stubbs 590, Sharon Boyd 424.
Traditional - Phil Greenwood 596, Peter Stubbs 590, Darrel Hudson 572, John Woolaston 304.
Sighted - John Clark 772, Greg Donovan 768, Zac Hayne 768, Lloyd Jauja 764, Sebastian Donovan 752,
Bernie Hayne 736, James Bush 724, Peter Bush 712, Gordon White 712, Craig Mansfield 692, Mark
Stevenson 630, Denise Stevenson 552, Lachlan Scott 382, Matt Wittman 378, Greg Scott 364.
Junior Sighted – Ethan Mansfield 746.
Junior Compound – Zac Critchley 450, Blake Memorey 332.