National IFAA

Namoi Valley Archers was represented by a 5 member team at the Australian IFAA Championships held in Sale, Victoria over the long weekend. The big wet which hit Victoria threw the travel and accommodation plans of many competitors into disarray with the Gunnedah group forced to scramble for new accommodation after the caravan park they were booked into was inundated by 1 metre of flood water. With new accommodation secured and a detour via Melbourne to reach the tournament the team found the ranges were in remarkably good condition allowing the event to proceed as scheduled. The International Field Archery Association competition is a highly technical test of archery ability with archers shooting 4 arrows at each of the 28 targets with a maximum distance of 80 yards. As well as the prestige of winning a National title this tournament took on added significance with the Australian team for the 2012 World IFAA Championships to be held in Argentina to be selected shortly. Wade Hudson surely enhanced his chances of selection in the Australian team with a wonderful display of archery to win the Bowhunter Compound Australian championship. Hudson opened a 35 point lead over Robert Salter after the Field round was completed but saw his lead clipped by 8 points after Salter recorded the best score in the Hunter round. Hudson showed the composure of a champion in the final animal round to outscore Salter and finish the event as Australian champion successfully defending his 2011 title. The Gunnedah club has 3 representatives in the Bowhunter Recurve B grade division with veteran Phil Greenwood showing great tenacity to score a memorable win. Greenwood started well setting a cracking pace in the Field round to open a big lead over Karl Peck and another Gunnedah archer, Darrell Hudson. Peck outscored Greenwood in both the Hunter and Animal rounds but Greenwood had done enough to secure a 14 point win. The battle for third came down to a close tussle between Gunnedah’s Darrell Hudson and Peter Stubbs with Hudson doing just enough the grab third by 11 points. Karen Hudson shot extremely well to take the silver in Ladies Bowhunter Compound event behind multiple Australian representative Coralie Volgyesi with a very consistent performance across the 3 rounds.