Outback Range Challenges Local Archers

Fine weather ensures good turnout. The clubs recent shoot was conducted on a dry but storm damaged course, with the range captains Brad Mulherin and Stuart Dolbel having a lot of work to do to bring the range up to scratch with wind and water causing considerable damage, again, to what was a challenging course ensuring that no big scores were recorded. Another excellent turnout of round 50 archers lined up for the starters whistle on what was an enjoyable day of shooting .With archers from Tamworth, Barradine and Murrurundi making the trek over and a large contingent of local and junior archers ,the Gunnedah club has witnessed , in the last few months, an influx of new archers bolstering their numbers considerably. The most exciting aspect of all this is the number of junior and cub archers joining the ranks of the initiated, ensuring good future prospects for the club as a whole. The last time archery member numbers were seen to increase over the norm was due to the Sydney Olympics popularity, with Simon Fairweather winning gold and consequently inspiring people to take up the bow over the more mainstream sports. With the release recently of many movies and television shows, Hunger Games , Brave , Arrow etc.. , possibly being the impetus behind this new found desire to share in what is an ancient practice of launching pointy sticks at things, be they targets or in its more traditional form , that of hunting. Meg Jaeger led the way in the junior sighted division, giving the boys a dust up, with some excellent shooting, Lachlan Boyd and Zach Gardiner couldn’t be separated in a tie for second, with Jack and his brother Matt Ross following very close behind. Haylee and Kaytlyn Murrell went shot for shot with Haylee just edging out her sister to record the win in the cub compound division, with new bowman Connor Poeschl giving a good account of himself to finish a gallant third. A much improving Mark Stevenson clawed a victory over Ken Thompson in what is an ongoing struggle between the two. Wade Hudson is shooting back at his best, with a comprehensive victory in the compound division followed by Karen Hudson and Wendi Murrell fighting it out for the placings, with karen just edging out her rival in a narrow win. The ‘old man’ of the range Darrell Hudson scored another win in barebow recurve over long term rivals Phil Greenwood and Peter Stubbs, who are both shooting very well but have been unable to dethrone Hudson in his almost ‘zen’ like ability to score points. A huge field of archers in the men’s sighted division saw Greg Donovan again victorious over a much improved Brad Mulherin with Peter Bush third, followed by a raft of shooters breathing down their necks. Special mention must got to new shooter Trent Ross who, on only his first outing at the club recorded a truly remarkable score beating out some old hands in the process. The next shoot will be this weekend 10/3/13 consisting of 2 3D rounds with a BBQ lunch, muster will be 8:30 with a 9:00am start. Sighted compound – 386 Greg Donovan, 384 Brad Mulherin,380 Peter Bush,376 Micheal Rule, 374 Bernie Hayne, Nathan Murrell, Steve Jaeger, Sebastian Donovan,372 James Bush, Brandon Thrift, 368 Trent Ross, 364 Gordon White, 348 Craig Poeschl, 344 Mel Sinclair, 334 Mark Daley, 330 Matt Sinclair, Greg Capper, 310 Matt Kelly, 308 Denise Stevenson, 264 Brian Taylor, 188 Mark Gardiner Sighted recurve – 320 Mark Stevenson, 310 Ken Thompson Bare bow compound – 368 Wade Hudson,334 Karen Hudson, 328 Wendi Murrell, 278 Ann Stubbs, 232 Sharon Boyd Bare bow recurve – 324 Darrell Hudson, 310 Phil Greenwood, 306 Peter Stubbs, 232 Norm Webster, 166 Kathleen Gardiner Junior compound – 328 Meg Jeager, 288 Lachlan Boyd, Zach Gardiner, 282 Jack Ross, 260 Matt Ross Cub compound – 310 Haylee Murrell, 302 Kaytlyn Murrell, 236 Connor poeschl, 204 Emylie Murrell, 194 Emily Jaeger, 180 Jacob Newcombe Cub recurve – 186 Harrison Capper, 182 Rhegan Jaeger, Callen Webster, 162 Jade Gardiner, 140 Paul Webster, 104 Max Gardiner