Namoi Archers Attend 3DAAA Nationals

A team of archers representing Gunnedah, consisting of Bernie Hayne, Peter Bush ,James Bush, Phil Greenwood ,Wendi Murrell, Nathan Murrell, Haylee Murrell, Kaytlyn Murrell and Emylie Murrell, attended the 3DAAA National archery titles over the weekend of 16 – 18 November, held at the picturesque ‘Pearlbrook ‘.The event was well catered for by the Vietnam Veterans MC club whose clubhouse and surrounding land was an ideal setting to host this prestigious event.The weekend was run by the Glenbawn Field Archers, with an excellent turnout of 216 archers vying for their respective top spots. The event was attended by Abbey Archery, with new bows and equipment on display for the adults, and a bouncing castle to keep the kids(and the not so young) entertained over the weekend. This style of archery is categorised by shooting at life like 3d feral animals over unmarked distances, without anything behind them to stop your arrow, this can result in your arrow disappearing or worse exploding on a rock , in a very upsetting way. The targets were set up in very challenging positions, with the very steep terrain resulting in some exhausted archers at the end of the day, shooting consists of 5 x 10 arrow rounds. The Gunnedah archers who attended the shoot were very impressed with the organisation of the event and the excellent facilities provided by the Vietnam Vets MC. Some of the Gunnedah archers shot very well with Wendi Murrell winning her barebow division with an impressive shooting display over the weekend , which resulted in her inclusion in the top 10 shoot off on Sunday, which was against all the divisions of bare bow archers. The shootoff is conducted in a pressure cooker environment with all the other archers watching the 10 shoot off. This shootoff was won by another Gunnedah archer Phil Greenwood. Phil Greenwood placed third in the mens recurve division, which was an excellent result considering he missed his first three arrows of the tournament. The Murrell girls again showed their future potential , with Haylee being crowned under 13 years national champion , with Kaytlyn a very close hard fought second, and Emylie only just out of the running with a fourth, from a competitive field of 8 cub archers. Bernie Hayne had a weekend he would rather forget, with the challenging target placement and difficult terrain resulting in several smashed arrows, and alot of frustration, shooting in the top division with such a large quality field is difficult even when shooting well. Nathan Murrell was well placed on the Saturday , being only 4 points behind third place, but one average round on the Sunday saw him drop to finish mid field, once again highlighting how competitive the shooting was. Peter and James Bush both shot well but finished out of medal contention also. All in all a very enjoyable weekend, showing again what a great family sport archery can be.

3D Attracts Big Field

Namoi Valley Archers conducted a 2 round 3D event on Sunday with a big field taking to the range. Course designers ,Greg Donovan and Gordon White, crafted a superbly designed course with clever target placement making high scoring difficult. The range upgrade also included new catch areas for any wayward arrows minimizing arrow damage and improving safety. Fresh from his outstanding performance at the World Championships , Wade Hudson, stamped his class on the Compound division scoring an impressive victory with 2 quality rounds. Karen Hudson grabbed second place with Ann Stubbs in third. Greg Donovan continued his recent good form to win the Sighted contest shooting with great precision to record the win from Tamworth’s Ben McCulloch with Greg Scott also showing some fine form to grab third from hunting legend, Brad Smith in a very tight finish. Darrell Hudson showed his class in scoring a good win in the Traditional contest with Peter Stubbs and Phil Greenwood finishing in a tie for the minor placings. The next club shoot is on November 25th with registration at 8.30. Scores Sighted - Greg Donovan 776, Ben McCulloch 764,Greg Scott 754,Brad Smith 750, John Finn 746, Stuart Dolbel 734, Tim Hayes 730, Bernie Hayne 728, John Clark 726, Sebastian Donovan 724, Lloyd Jauja 716, Gordon White 712,Peter Bush 710, James Bush 710, Andrew Stubbs 706, Simon Taylor 686, Mark Stevenson 682, Brad Mulherin 642, Denise Stevenson 614, Nathan Murrell 378, John Hartnett 342. Compound - Wade Hudson 694, Karen Hudson 596, Ann Stubbs 530, Tracy Redgrove 464, Kate Harris 360, Amy Stubbs 252. Traditional - Darrell Hudson 594, Peter Stubbs 552, Phillip Greenwood 552, John Woolaston 278, Alistair Wall 210. Cub Compound - Gordon Harris 508, Hayley Murrell 330, Kaytlyn Murrell 328, Emylie Murrell 216. Cub Sighted - Jed Hayes 704, Krystal Jauja 576.

Indoor ..... Outdoor and Branch Indoor Titles

Namoi Valley Archers has been focusing on Indoor archery over the last few weeks holding an IFAA Indoor event at their last club shoot with some good scoring on the day as members warmed up for the Northern NSW Branch Indoor Titles at Inverell. Stuart Dolbel recorded the highest score of the day missing a perfect score by just 2 points as he dominated the Sighted contest with Greg Donovan just edging out his son, Sebastian, by 1 point in the battle for minor placings. Wade Hudson was the dominate Compound archer in his final hit out before the World Titles in Argentina, scoring a comprehensive win from Karen Hudson with Ann Stubbs in second place and Sharon Boyd in third. Peter Stubbs showed the benefit of some recent Indoor competition to score a great win in the Traditional contest with Darrell Hudson in second and Alistair Wall in third. Scores Sighted - Stuart Dolbel 298, Greg Donovan 290, Sebastian Donovan 289, Gordon White 285, Mark Stevenson 252, Brad Mulherin 196. Compound - Wade Hudson 268, Karen Hudson 239, Ann Stubbs 210, Sharon Boyd 174, Amy Stubbs 154, Kate Harris 66, Alisha Hayes 30. Traditional – Peter Stubbs 228, Darrell Hudson 222, Alistair Wall 37, Bernice Hart 34. Junior Open – Lachlan Boyd 243, Junior Compound – Gordon Harris 100. Mark and Denise Stevenson returned from the Northern NSW Branch Indoor Championships with gold medals in their respective divisions. Mark won the Freestyle Recurve event shooting personal best scores while Denise Stevenson won the Freestyle Limited event also recording a PB on her way to victory. The Stevensons have been regular competitors at the Gunnedah PCYC Indoor competition which is gaining momentum and attribute their good form to the experience gained under competition pressure at these monthly events. The focus returns to field archery this Sunday with the very popular 3D targets in use with a 2 round event starting with registration at 8.30am. Course designers , Greg Donovan and Gordon White, have been hard at work revamping the range and installing new back up butts on the range. There will be a sausage sizzle lunch and a club meeting will also be held on the day.