Welsh Field Masters round 4

Round 4 of the Welsh Field Masters Tour was on August 19^th at the newly formed Llantrisant Field Archers club, officially opening their new course. It had quite a small turnout compared to usual as it was on the same weekend as several other shoots but I am determined to shoot all 5 stages of the FMT so rocked up bright and early! The road into the course was difficult for my trusty Ka, she made it through and I had my doubts if it was going to make it back through the mud on the way out!

 It had rained heavily for a few days so the ground was sodden and shortly after arrival we had a torrential downpour for about an hour. This made the lower half the course very slippery on the steep climbs , and one area of about 4 targets was a bog. Standing on the peg I was sinking in the mud over my ankles, boots completely submerged!  After the rain passed it got quite sunny, and very humid making glasses and scope steam up. Bit of a nightmare with the weather on this one!

Despite the conditions, the course is nicely laid out with some challenging shots that are a bit deceptive and I had a great time shooting it, even if I ended up looking like I had trench foot (boots flooded!, new waterproof ones on order!). I had quite a good days shooting with only one hiccup (punched a shot into the 1 ring on a long downhill) and finished on 512 Expert – 520 Field which equals my PB and earned me first place!

I’m out in front now on the leaderboard and the final round is on the 23^rd, a marked forester at the Fonmon course which I am really looking forward to as I haven’t shot that round before. Ahead of this though is the English Field Archery Association’s National Championships being hosted by March Hare archers in Throckmorton. It’s a 2 day shoot a few hours’ drive away so I’m going to be staying at a local campsite on Saturday night and then driving home on Sunday.

I've made a few adjustments to the new bow since this shoot (mainly tiller to have it sit correctly on the grip) and its holding dead steady compared to before so with any luck we can push the score up a little bit at this competition and close the gap on that elusive 530 for Grand Bowmaster.