The first round of the Welsh Field Masters was on May 27th at Zenith Archers' field course in Hay On Wye. Comrade Bruno drove us both down to this one in some of the best weather we have had this year. It had been amazingly sunny for days with blazing temperatures, so plenty of sun block was on the cards, as well as silly hats!
We rocked up to the course and got set up and loosed a few on the practice butts to make sure everything was settled, and then we went out on the course in our groups. We got to shoot together with 2 of our friends so we had excellent company all day and there was plenty of cover from the trees so we didn't catch the sun that badly!
This was the competition debut of my new FMJ's and grip, so I focussed on keeping my bow hand consistent and tried to maintain a strong shot. My personal best for an IFAA round is 501 and I shot a first half of 255 so I was on the right track, but now the pressure was on for the second half. Fatigue becomes a bit of an issue in the second half due to the number of targets/arrows from what I am normally accustomed to shooting but I had already shot the same targets in the first half, so knew the little tricks for each target so could balance this out. I finished the shoot with all hits (woohoo!) and a second half score of 256, scraped in with one point higher :)
Final score 511 which I was absolutely chuffed to bits with! It was my second 500+ score so I am now in the A-Class which is the higher banding, result! It was a qualifying score so it can't be used to claim a higher incentive unfortunately (you need to already be A-class to do that) but it was a BowMaster level score so I know I am capable of that rank now. I came in 3rd place in the compound division, and the 2 archers that beat me are both register Pro's so i've got my work cut out there!
Overall I had a really strong day with some fantastic groups and performances on some of the targets. I had to get a picture of this one for bragging rights lol!
Mr Bruno had a strong day's shooting as well, putting a lot of the changes to his form into practice and securing his second 400+ score with plenty of margin to get B class under his belt. There was one unfortunate incident with a slip in a riverbed crossing that saw a hard landing, and the string derail off the cams on his bow - but fortunately he wasn't injured apart from a knocked shin, the bow wasnt damaged and it was on the way back from the last target so we re-assembled the bow (gotta love Bowtech's no-press-required takedown) , carefully tested it and he has now retuned it at the club.
So there we are! A good time was had by all with great results and excellent weather, leading to a happy satisfied drive home and a big Indian takeaway as a reward!
The next shoot now is on Jun 24th, stage 2 of the Masters Tour at Dinefwr.. bring it on!
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