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NI Indoor Archery Championships 2007:

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NI Juniors take 2nd spot at British Championships:

The Northern Ireland Junior Archery Team recently competed at the 35th British Junior Indoor Target Championships held at the National Sports Centre, Lilleshall, England on 2 & 3rd December 2006. Led by Team Manager and Coach, John Ming, the team beat the National Teams from Wales and England to claim second place in the team event. John was supported by Assistant Team Manager Victoria McBurney and Andrew Napier.

The team was made up of three junior gents and three junior ladies, representing clubs from all over NI. Mark Nesbitt and Amy Lavery from Ballyvally AC in Banbridge shot in the recurve section. Peter Cummings and Anna Elliott from Muckamore Company of Archers also shot in the recurve section and the compound archers were Kathryn McCullough from Kingdom of Mourne AC and Jonathan Napier from Kilmore AC in Moira. The round shot was a Portsmouth, which is 60 arrows shot at a 60cm target face at a distance of 20 yards with a maximum score of 600.

As individuals, the NI juniors shot some good scores. In the Under 16 Gents Recurve section Mark Nesbitt shot 564, finishing 8th. His score was just 13 points behind 1st place in this age group and an improvement of 44 points on his score from the same tournament in 2005. Peter Cummings came 18th in the same section with a great score of 538, at his first National Indoor Championships.

Amy Lavery was competing in the Under 18 Ladies Recurve section and also finished 8th in her section with a score of 509. Anna Elliott shot a score of 470 and finished 22nd in the Under 16 Ladies Recurve section.

Kathryn McCullough came third in the Under 18 Ladies Compound section with a score of 549, despite an unfortunate miss. Jonathan Napier came 4th with 560 points in the Under 18 Gents Compound section, improving on his score from the 2005 championships.

The team event is decided by combining the five highest scores from each country. The Scottish team achieved first place with a score of 2823 points, NI were second with 2720 points, Wales third with 2715 points and England fourth with 2575 points. A great result for NI!

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Northern Irelands Shoot to New Highs in India:

Nine of the province's top archers represented NI at the 2nd Commonwealth Archery Championships held in Jamshedpur, India from 8th - 11th November.

The team was made up of archers from all over NI. Team manager, who also shot, was Kevin Bloomfield from City of Belfast AC. Other members were father and daughter Ivan and Kathryn McCullough and Alan Girvan from Kingdom of Mourne AC in Kilkeel, Alan Boyd, Aiden Lundy and Gail Reilly-Martin from Kilmore AC in Moira, Alan Convery from Ballyvally AC and Ian McGibbon from Lough Cuan AC in Newtownards.

Before the competition started archers had 2 practice days, followed by an official practice day to acclimatise themselves with the 30°C plus temperatures and humidity of 70-80%.

This was also the teams debut competition revealing their new Diadora sponsored tracksuits and kit bags.

The best result came in the Ladies recurve section where Gail Reilly-Martin from Dromore shot a PB and new NI record of 600 points for the 70m Olympic round and was ranked 9th going into the head-to-head rounds

In the Ladies Compound section Kathryn McCullough from Kilkeel shot 603 points in the qualifying round and was ranked 18th. This is indeed an achievement for Kathryn who is only 16 years old and two weeks before travelling to India represented the GB Junior archery team at the Junior World Championships in Mexico. Kathryn also acted as flag bearer during the Official Opening Ceremony in India.

In the Gents recurve section Ian McGibbon shot 611, Aiden Lundy shot 553 and Kevin Bloomfield shot 504 in the qualifying round.

Kevin Bloomfield, who only recently changed from the traditional longbow style to recurve, showed his potential but was beaten by Englands Matt Webb 105-95 points. Ian finished the competition ranked 16th, Aiden ranked 18th and Kevin ranked 21st.

The four NI gents compound archers, three of whom are called Alan, competed well. Alan Girvan from Kilkeel shot 662 in qualifying but was defeated in the 1st elimation round.

Ivan McCullough from Kilkeel shot 654 in qualifying but was defeated in the 1st elimination round by Scotland's Andrew Ward 116-110. Ivan shot PB scores and finished with a ranking of 20th. Ward went on to take the silver medal in the competition.

Alan Convery from Gilford held his nerve despite an equipment failure in the qualifying round and shot a score of 630. He was ranked 23rd overall.

Alan Boyd from Holywood shot 661 in qualifying but was defeated by Derek Jacobs from Australia 107-112 points in the first elimination round and was eventually ranked 26th.

The team thoroughly enjoyed the competition and their visit to India. In Jamshedpur, all of the teams were extremely well looked after. The impressive opening and closing ceremonies offered a chance to see Indian dancing and singing performed by local school children and adult performing groups. One activity the NI team had to get used to was signing autographs. Indian adults and children alike seemed to have a genuine admiration for archers from all of the competing countries and were often waiting outside the practice and competition venues to have autograph books signed.

The team are grateful to the NI Sports Council for funding support, Kevin Bloomfield and Trudi Moore for dealing with travel arrangements and Visa applications prior to the event and Diadora for supplying team kit.

Let's hope we see more of these archers and other NI archers competing internationally in the build up to the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi.

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Causeway Archer's on Target:

Causeway Company of Archers held their first national competition on Saturday 11th November at the University of Ulster Sports Centre.

A successful days shooting was marked with representatives of 25 Northern Ireland based clubs displaying a high level of professionalism and commitment to this growing sport.

The Causeway Company of Archers takes pride in encompassing all major areas of the archery discipline within their club and as such Saturday was organised to provide competition within the sections of Olympic Recurve, Compound and Long Bow.

Junior and Senior sections were represented, with various levels of ability present within each section. Unique medals designed especially for this event were presented to each relevant winner and runner up.

Presenting the awards was Mr Andy Haggan the President of Northern Ireland Archery Society. The Causeway Company of Archers would like to extend their gratitude to Andy and as such took the opportunity to present him with a piece of commemorative crystal to mark the occasion.

The Causeway Company of Archers would like to also take this opportunity to thank Intersport at Moores of Coleraine and Awards for All for their support and sponsorship. The Company would also like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who helped in anyway to ensure that this day was the success that it was.

The Causeway Archers would like to open their club to new members and would like to encourage new blood into both the club and the sport as a whole. Anyone interested in the sport is encouraged to come along and have a go. The club meets on a Monday night at the Riding for the Disabled Centre in Castleroe, with Juniors starting at 7.00pm and Seniors at 8.00pm.

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