Sunday 29th July saw Red Kite Archers host round 3 of the Welsh Field Masters tour at thier course in Broad Oaks, Carmarthenshire. Chris and I were both down for this one and he didn't have the car for the weekend so I drove us up to this one and thats where the fun begins..
We were driving down the A40, past Sennybridge onto the quiet rural stretch when the front passenger wheel starts shaking like crazy, a flat tyre. I barely had time to say 'awww b******s' before the tyre jumped the rim and dropped us on a steel rim at high speed! Stopped safely to find a destroyed rim smoking hot from the road! Jacked her up and we couldn't get the wheel off :( It was stuck fast on the hub so we had to call the AA out who used oil, leverage and sheer force to pop it off and put the spare on.
We always travel early to have time to get ready, eat breakfast and hit the practice targets for a bit without rushing so we had just enough time to make it. Parked up, got our bows assembled and gear on faster than I thought was humanly possible and jogged up the hill to the staging area just in time for target groups and the walk out onto the course... phew!
Hopefully that was all the bad luck used up for one day! :p
I was in an excellent group with seasoned pro's and friends and had a fantastic day. The weather was on our side, a little overcast but mostly bright with a little sun. There was a moderate wind at the top end of the course on the longer shots that made them tricky. As I reached A-class a little while ago, this shoot was a chance to take a higher award so I was hoping to break 505 points for the Bowmaster rank and see where I could place among the other archers.
As you can see, the standard was high all day!
I had a strong round, reaching the last 2 targets with a nice margin to reach my goal. These targets were the longest distance walkups on the course, both downhill into a fair bit of wind blowing left/right. I made my adjustments for slope, and aimed off about mid-4 to the left to counter the wind and cleared the target with the full 20 points. This meant on my last target, I was at 500 points so only needed 5 from 4 arrows - piece of cake :)
The last target was also a long walkup in the same direction, same conditions. I lined up my shots and took my time and shot a perfect 20, finishing on 520 points! I was absolutely chuffed, I aced 2 of the hardest targets on the course at the end of a long tough day, finishing in 2nd place - smashing through Bowmaster... and hitting 520 which is the qualifying score for Senior Bowmaster! Result!! I am also in first place on the tournament leaderboard by a good margin for now!
I think the success on this shoot came from a change in my approach. I've always rocked up to the peg, lined up my shots and off they go. This time around, I took my time - assessing the shot before moving up and I made my sure my footing was solid. This made the most difference I think. I spent time 'digging in' and getting a solid base, and if the ground was sloped too much I build up a platform with branches/rocks to get level and it really made a world of difference in how easy it was to hold on target without wobbling.
All the fieldcraft and shooting skills I have been working on are really starting to come together and show in my scores. I can't wait for the next outing to see if I can build on this and push a further 10 points to hit the highest class possible of Grand Bowmaster. Fingers crossed!
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