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.