First shoot of the year. Namoi Valley Archers kicked off the year belatedly, with the previous first official shoot of the year called off due to a torrential downpour making conditions too dangerous to shoot. Some last minute work with the whipper snipper and pruning saw, and thanks to some warm weather, resulted in perfect conditions for shooting on an unchanged boundary range. With the recent generous donation of unlimited plastic for target butts by Scott Davies from Carroll Cotton, the club members have been busy packing the new butts in anticipation of a big year, this has resulted in the replace ment of some deteriorated and unusable target butts , with the chance now of upgrading the ranges for more varied shots. With all the club members keen to sink their teeth into a new year of challenges , and also a large contingent of new comers on hand, the shooting commenced enthusiastically on what turned out to be a day for good scoring. Greg Donovan has asserted his dominance in the sighted division early, with a scintillating round , which resulted in the horde following fighting it out for minor placing honours only. John Clark took out 2nd place with Bernie Hayne and Lloyd Juaja finishing 3rd, in what were, after recent form, pleasing results for them. In the barebow division Wade Hudson reigned supreme, with Neville ‘ nifty’ White taking out 2nd place and both Darryl Hudson and Wendi Murrell unable to be separated , finishing with a dead heat for 3rd.In the junior division Lachlan Boyd showed a clean set of heels with Haylee Murrell in the cubs making light work of the conditions to record a win. The next round will be on Sunday the 24th of February with an 8:30 start for a 9:00 shoot with a new concept being trialled, whereby the standard 20 target round will be split into two 10 target rounds, consisting of a 3 arrow and a 1 arrow being shot on each. Results: Men’s open – Greg Donovan 396,John Clark 388,Bernie Hayne 384,Lloyd Jauja 384,Nathan Murrell 382,Stuart Dolbel 380,Sebastian Donovan 378,Peter Bush 374,Andrew Springall 370,Gordon white 370,Brad Mulherin 368,Michael Rulen 360,Craig Poeschl 348,Waylon Allan 338,Greg capper 334,Matt Kelly 324,Mark Stevenson 306 Women’s open – Denise Stevenson 330 Men’s Compound – Wade Hudson 376,Neville White 340,Jarrod Stubbs 244 Women’s compound – Wendi Murrell 330,Karen Hudson 302,Ann Stubbs 280,Sharon Boyd 228,Kate Harris 116. Junior – Lachlan Boyd 330,Gordon Harris 216,Paul Webster 186,Callan Webster 136,Gillian Harris 126 Cub – Haylee Murrell 356,Kaytlyn Murrell 274,Connor Poeschl 268,Emylie Murrell 192 Ungraded – Mark Daley 334,Brian Taylor 238

NVA Start The Year In Good Form

The rain in Maitland falls mainly on us. Namoi Valley Archers sent a smaller than usual contingent of keen archers to the first shoot of the year at the northern NSW branch ABA shoot held recently at a very wet Maitland range. Although the forecast did not look good going into the weekend the intrepid team set forth through torrential rain on the Friday ,which lasted through till Saturday lunch, assured of not having the heatwave conditions of the previous year, and the choice pick of camping spot, albeit slightly wet underfoot. The Maitland club always produces an enjoyable shoot with the hot showers on Friday night most appreciated. Although numbers were slightly down ,due to the forecast rain, a good turnout of archers presented at the muster on Saturday morning, obviously choosing to stay in dryer accommodation, and despite the continuing rain, proceeded to record some good scores in the trying conditions. The Gunnedah club members, coming in from a spell and with plenty of practice under the belt proceeded to give an excellent account of themselves over the weekend , with all attending archers taking home a medal of some sort, in a dominant club display, with the Hayne family not only taking home dual bronze but cleaning up at the raffle table as well. Father and son team of Bernie & Zac Hayne both finished with a 3rd placing in their respective classes , in the highly competitive freestyle division , with Zac shooting against Australian representative Jake Collins, who scored a perfect second round on his way to another victory. Wendi Murrell had a morale boosting win over close rival Libby White in the barebow division, who was shooting on home soil, in a come from behind victory , which saw her run away with the win in the end. Nathan Murrell finished with a second placing in a large field of competitive archers in the bowhunter unlimited division flight 2, while Peter Bush came away with a 3rd place in flight 1.The Murrell girls Haylee, Kaytlyn and Emylie all had wins in their respective cub barebow divisions, with Haylee’s score second in the overall cub/junior/ladies tally ,only being beaten by 4 points by her mother Wendi. Despite the weather and slippery conditions the weekend was a great success for the club, with the scores showing great promise for the year ahead in what will no doubt be another successfull campaign for archery pre-eminance.