The November Challenge

Its been a while since i have posted an update on my progress, lets just say family, procrastination and work has kept me very busy.

So since my last update I competed in the South African National Indoor champs held in Durban. Was not my best shooting but i did shoot a Indoor Qualifying score for National Colours, I would have also finished 3rd in the Recurve me ranking round. So whilst not my best competition but still a very respectable result.

November is quite a full month of shooting,the first weekend in November was the Malcolm Todd Tournament which was a double 1440. The first day of shooting the weather was not too bad a little windy but manageable, my score was a respectable 1141 with a a Personal best and New provincial and National record at 50m. Day 2 was a little more hectic with the wind and everybody’s score dropped, I ended with a 1041  my final total for both days 2182 is a new record for the double 1440 round.

For the 2nd weekend in November i traveled to Pretoria for the Jan & Lala challenge hosted by TUKS archery. this was a 720 Quattro

The first day was very warm with a bit of a breeze that was a little confusing as the flag on all the targets were not always blowing in the same direction or force. Beside this added challenge i managed to shoot pretty decent scores, I broke national records for the single unit 304, double unit (720) 587 and at the end of the day the double 720 national record of 1138.

Day 2, wow its was very very hot and the wind returned to try and make things more interesting,  I started well, felt a little stiff from the previous days shooting, however this may have improved my focus as i managed to shoot another 304 for the single unit (my last arrow of the round was a lazy shot and scored a 5) the second unit was also a strong round of 294, which gave me a final score of 601, my first ever score over 600 for a 720 round and a new National record. the final 720 of the day was a challenge with the ever changing wind and the increased heat, I was feeling drained. With the encouragement of the spectators and other other archer I held it together to shoot a respectable 569 which gave me a final double 720 score of 1170. an increase of 32points over the record i shot the previous day.

I ended with a new national record for the total weekend score 2308

So to recap, over the 2 days i broke 6 national records and shot 2 Protea colours qualifying scores. Not a bad weekend….

This coming weekend i am off to Durban for another 720 Quattro and the weekend after that i’ll be back at Bellville archery club to shoot another 720 Quattro. lets hope this old body of mine manages to survive November…..