Twenty twelve gold

The Olympic dream is over

2009-01-02T17:38:00.002Z

Yes it's true. The Olympic dream is over. After a couple of years I have decided that it's going to require more effort than I can afford to put in. I am still doing archery but now on "the dark side" and predominantly and most importantly for fun! You can follow my compound bow exploits on my new blog http://compoundunlimited.blogspot.com/

Thanks for following my progress thus far, but I will not be updating this blog any further. Good luck for 2009!

£3.95bn to host games

2007-10-18T23:47:00.000+01:00

A couple of months ago The Daily Telegraph reported that the London Olympics are now expected to cost around £3.95bn. Wow! If I had just 0.001% of that I could almost guarantee my place in the archery squad by hiring the best coaches and training full time. Hmmm. Any offers?

2007 Short Metric league

2007-10-16T23:07:00.000+01:00

On 30^th September I went to Greenwood Osterley to compete in the last short metric league shoot of the year. Technically it was the final day of my membership to the club and I wanted to go along and show my support. There was also the prospect of getting one of their old straw bosses for the back garden.

Greenwood has already won the league so this was a final shoot to decide the 2^nd place - we were just shooting for fun really. Still it’s good to compete and get some extra practice.

I scored 550 - an ok score, but I felt I could do better.

The good news is that the club were kind enough to let me have an old boss, and I brought it home tied to the roofbars of the trusty Astra. Mind you it’s sitting propped up against the house wall with a plastic sheet over it at the moment, until I decide where and how to put it up.

On the morning of 6^th October I went to Quicks and bought some serving material and serving tool. I decided to have a go a putting a new centre-serving on my bowstring. The original was the wrong size and I was not getting a very good release of my arrows. A serving is a twine-like material that wraps around the bowstring, to produce a loop at both ends, and a section in the middle that you hold when pulling back the string.

Ever since the scouts I have been a big fan of knot-tying so I thought I would have a go, first by practicing on an old shoelace. And then doing it for real

Things went pretty well, and what’s more England beat Australia in the rugby world cup quarter final. Fantastic!

Other news: I’ve started a Facebook group called “Get Nick to the Olympics” to which I have added some photos. Please show your support by joining the group here.

Maintaining my indoor handicap

2007-10-09T22:21:00.000+01:00

A couple of Mondays ago was the second of our indoor practice rounds. Like last time, this was a Portsmouth round where I was hoping to beat my score from the previous week. Things started well with 3 arrows in the ten-ring for my sighting shots, but by the end I had made too many errors and finished on a score of 526. I need to be scoring at least 542 in order to maintain my indoor handicap of 37. Here’s hoping for better things next time.

Pope Young

2007-10-07T19:44:00.000+01:00

If I said lets shoot a Pope Young, you might not know what I meant. Neither did I when someone said it to me. It’s actually the name of an archery round. This round differs from a normal round in target archery in that there are 6 targets numbered 1 through 6 accordingly and 6 shooting positions arranged in an arc, again numbered from 1 through 6.

Starting at position 1 you get 45 seconds in total (or a minute in our case as the field captain was feeling generous) to shoot one arrow at each of the targets in turn before scoring, retrieving arrows and moving to the next shooting position to do it again. It’s fast and furious with hardly any time to load then shoot the arrow so using a clicker and any sight adjustment was out of the question.

It was great fun and I hope to do it again soon. I imagine it’s similar to a field shoot in that you have to estimate the distance and aim at a distant twig or cloud to get it right. I think I’m going to look into doing a field shoot.

What no archery

2007-09-13T01:07:00.000+01:00

A combination of family commitments, bad weather and a sprained foot has kept me away from the archery field. I have to say that my motivation has dwindled slightly as well. There has been a lot of stuff to do around the house recently and that has had to take priority. It’s amazing to think that there are full time athletes out there. How do they get other stuff done? We’ve still got boxes to unpack and we’ve been in our new house for six months now. I have got some important things done though, like making a gallon of pear wine and got some logs for the winter.
As far as the archery goes I amazed myself by coming second in the Nonsuch club champs despite only shooting about 3 dozen arrows in practise the day before. Having said that there was a gap of about 200 points between me and first place, and the line-up did not include a couple of the top archers. My philosophy is that you have to be in it to win it and I am pleased with my second place. A score of 938 is a personal best for the FITA round (although still some 127 points shy of a Bowman classification).
Still some would say it’s the taking part that counts, and I am applying this to the competition I took part in at Woking last Sunday. I shot really badly (even worse that the Herts County Champs earlier in the year). I should be nailing a Hereford round now but I just couldn’t seem to get a grouping at 80 yards. I tell a lie - my sighting arrows (the only arrows shot during the day that don’t count towards a score) were pretty good as I got a tight grouping which included 3 golds and 3 reds. This led me to a false sense of security believing it was going to be a good day.
How wrong I was. A score of 418 after 6 doz arrows at 80 yards was well short of what I’m capable of. I had a chat with myself over lunch and attempted to focus more for the afternoon session. I did fair a bit better at the shorter distances (60 and 50 yards respectively) but overall it was a bad performance made worse by the fact that Andrew (a long time arch rival and all round decent bloke) scored well enough to get the overall second place silver medal, best 1st class archer score, the best gold prize (arrow nearest the cross in the centre of the target) and won a bottle a malt whisky in the raffle.
Talk about peaks and troughs. Monday night saw the first indoor practise night of the season. Our club shoots indoors at Quicks. I was ready to do badly considering how I had done the day before and as I was setting up my equipment I started to wonder, having paid my £54 shooting fees for the first part of the season, if it was going to be worth it. About 16 of us cramped into the tiny indoor range which was extremely hot. Les the organiser had put me on the same target as Dave Morris probably our club’s best archer.
This somehow must have raised my game as I managed to come away with a score of 542 for the Portsmouth round. Not a personal best, but close, and 38 points off the club record. It was made all the more amazing as I had to guess at a sight mark being the first time I had shot indoors with my ACE arrows. I’m now thinking about getting a team together for the National indoor competition in January at Lilleshall.
In other news it seems I have an unclaimed club record for the Ladies FITA round. I’m torn between making the claim and publicising the fact that I shoot girly distances.

GOA champs

2007-08-06T22:36:00.000+01:00

Greenwood Osterley Club Championships

It was a really hot day (the hottest of the year in fact) and I don’t get on with the heat. Still I drank plenty of water throughout the day and was situated on target-1 nearest the clubhouse, so was able to seek some shade. I had arrived that morning at 9.00 and it was already baking hot. I knew then that we were in for a scorcher. I made the tactical decision early on not to apply and sun-cream (I hate the stuff - it’s just too greasy and I can’t get a proper grip on the bow afterwards), but I did as always wear my sunhat, turned up my collar and had long sleeves on my polo shirt to avoid sunburn.

I know I have been taking my first class scores for granted recently but I really did shoot badly at the Greenwood Osterley Club Championships. A score of 451 was second class effort. I was my first time shooting 100 yards but that was no excuse really as it is basically the same as 90 metres which I have shot before. There is maybe one metre in it. I am pleased to be shooting this distance and getting all of my arrows on the target (most of the time). I suppose to be a little fairer on myself there was a bit of a breeze - although it was the same for everyone, bar the day before where I’d managed a measly 3 dozen arrows at 70m (249 scored) I hadn’t shot for 2 weeks so maybe I shouldn’t be so hard on myself. So yet again I think it comes down to needing more practise. It’s amazing how a gap between shoots can have such an effect.

This is how it panned out: My six arrows of sighters at 100 yards went well and I got quite a tight group with a couple of golds. It went downhill from there though and I had a few misses and mostly low scoring arrows. My 80 yards distance wasn’t much better - maybe because I’d had a couple of pints of Becks at lunchtime (they’re such a sociable crowd at GOA). Normally though I think this would have helped me relax. [Mental note - check whether alcohol is a banned substance at the Olympics]. At 60 yards a blister on my finger that had been getting bigger and bigger throughout the day finally burst. This offered some relief in that it made pulling the bow string easier but it was quite sore. The good news is at this late stage I had got my act together and my scores and groups were starting to improve.

For me the best part of the day was to come. After the main competition was complete and to allow time for the scores to be collated, we had a head-to-head match. This involved creating a leader board and each archer being paired with another in a six arrow shoot-off, with the highest score determining the winner and progression to the next round.

I was paired against Berry in the first round. As a junior she was shooting at a distance of 30 yards while I was shooting at 60 yards. I knew Berry was pretty good and had been improving a lot recently so I had my work cut out. I shot quite well and a score of 44 put me one point ahead and through to the next round. Next was a relatively new recruit - Eric. I had no idea how good he was but knew I had to put in a good score as he was shooting at 40 yards. Again there was a gnat’s whisker in it and I won by one point. My next opponent was Gary. He too is relatively new to the world of archery but is quite good already as demonstrated by his performance a couple of weeks ago in the London Archers invitation shoot. He had also just knocked out Andrew (a first class archer) in the previous round. Gary was shooting at 50 yards so again I knew I really had to do well. To my surprise I beat him and was through to the semi final. There I expected to meet Kevin (one of the top archers in the club) but he had already gone out with a surprising win by Phil. So it was Phil and I who battled it out for a place in the final. His luck had run out though and I made it through. The other semi final between Salesh and Josef had tied so they went to a one-arrow shoot-off while I waited nervously on the sideline to see who my opponent would be. Josef won it and his place in the final. I really did feel nervous and as the rest of the club members looked on I wondered if this is the same feeling I might get if I made it to the Olympics. Anyway the whistle was blown and we started shooting. Would you believe it - we both scored 45, a tie. So it went to a one arrow shoot-off. Nearest the “x” to win. I waited. Josef let his arrow go. An outer gold - nine points scored. This was going to be a tall order. I let my arrow go. An outer red- seven points scored. Josef had won, but I was pleased with my performance. The day had started badly but had ended on a high and I’d had a good day out with my archery buddies.

Bonthron Shield Half FITA

I shot my first Half FITA round at Nonsuch competing in the Bonthron Shield competition. It’s called a Half FITA because it’s half the number of arrows to a (full) FITA. This isn’t as tiring as the full version and it’s over a whole lot quicker. It still offers the opportunity to get a Bowmen or Master Bowman classification though. I didn’t quite manage that, scoring 515, only 18 points shy of Bowman class, but it was a fun day out down at my new club.

KensingtonPalaceshoot

After spending about half an hour driving up and down I finally found the entrance to the shooting field - a private gate in the wall.

The first thing I noticed on arrival was all the armed police. With Clarence House in the background we set up our gear. I have to say that it seemed a little odd to be shooting arrows towards a Royal building, but I was assured that this happened regularly being the ground for the London Archers club.

This was a team Albion event and I had been put in the Greenwood Osterley “B” team. My fellow members being Andrew, Gary and Stan. I started really well at 80 yards, and by the end of the 3^rd dozen I was third on the individual leader board. My 60 yards wasn’t so good and I’d slipped to 10^th place by the end of that session. The scores were close though and I knew I could pull back a few places if I shot well. I dug in and was rewarded with a 4^th place by the end with a score of 781. Our team came a respectable 7^th.

My first FITA went well I think

2007-07-13T09:57:00.000+01:00

My first FITA went well I think - it was part of the short metric league at Greenwood Osterley Archers. By shooting 90m and 70m in the morning and adding this to the short metric score in the afternoon, the total score constitutes a FITA round. Considering that we had non-stop rain all morning and non-stop wind all afternoon I scored 894 - automatically a personal best and a first class score, so I’m well chuffed with that. What’s more I even top scored. Ok there were only 3 other archers doing the FITA round but I still beat them, and that feels great. Thanks to Richard for allowing me to put my kit in his tent. The rain was so bad in the morning that I didn’t take my own tent as I knew it would leak. I have subsequently upgraded my tent to a QuickPitch. I think this represents good value for money and literally pitches itself in a second or two.

Since then I’ve shot a Long Metric I round (otherwise known as a Ladies Long Metric) at Nonsuch where I scored 516 - another first class score. It’s amazing - for so long first class scores have eluded me but this year they seem to be coming thick and fast. I wonder if it’s me actually improving or whether my new kit (arrows/clicker) have made the difference. I imagine it’s both, but long may it continue.

Last weekend I shot a Hereford round at the Hertfordshire County Open which was the first outing for my new tent. Of course it was glorious sunshine all day and I’m pleased to say that its waterproofing did not get tested. I was tested though, and at the half way point Andrew, one of my fellow club members, was leading me by some 40 points or more. I think this raised my game for the second half and at the end had managed to overtake and pull out a 10 point advantage. I scored 992, getting over 100 points more than needed for a first class score. This was also the top Hereford score on the day. Thanks to Herts County for putting on a really good shoot. I think I’ll try to go next year and compete with the big boys on the York round.

Tomorrow should be an interesting day because I’ll be shooting an Albion round in a team event based in the grounds of Kensington Palace. Furthermore the weather forecast is looking good. Maybe this is the end to the wettest summer that I can remember.

That’s cool man

2007-06-30T18:49:00.000+01:00

I’ve managed to get my first class classification with a score of 511 shooting a Half Metric I round a couple of weeks ago. I’d wanted to achieve this for some time and was disappointed last year when I didn’t get it. But it’s in the bag now, and I have to concentrate on getting Bowman classification next. For that I’m really going to have to up my game.

Since then I got 1st place at the Spelthorne competition with a score of 924 shooting a Hereford round. It was a glorious day – thankfully not as hot as last year where I was wopped by the girls, and it felt great to be on winning form. Even so I didn’t think I shot that well. I seem to have developed a habit of doing something wrong as my arrows are going to the right. I’ll have to get someone to watch me shoot and get a few pointers. Are there any coaches out there wanting a challenge?

I even improved my handicap last week shooting a Short Metric round (3 doz arrows at 50m and 3 doz at 30m), I think to 41 – but I’ll have to wait for the official results of that to be certain. I hate improving my handicap at short distances at it just doesn’t feel right – but at least it’s going in the right direction.

Tomorrow I’m shooting a FITA round in a competition at my old club Greenwood Osterley Archers. This is my first step competing with the big boys at a man’s size distance – (3 doz arrows at 90m, 3 doz at 70m, 3 doz at 50m and 3 doz at 30m), a round that offers the opportunity to get a Bowman classified score.

In preparation I went to GOA this morning to practise shooting 90m distance – the first distance of a FITA round. This was my first time shooting 90m and I was a bit apprehensive as I didn’t want to break any arrows, something that’s easily done when you are missing the target a lot. I was expecting a few misses, especially as it was raining quite heavily. I’d set off from home in the rain in the hope that it would have stopped by the time I got to GOA; alas no. So I shot in the rain with Andrew and Dave. Andrew kindly sighted my first 2 arrows – both misses high and right. Contrary to what you might think it’s impossible to watch your own arrows to see where they land – for one you are concentrating on the target so you don’t see the arrow, two: it’s so damn far away that it’s difficult anyway, and three: standing behind the arrow as it flies away from you is not the best angle to view it from. It’s better to stand away from the archer to try and view the flight of the arrow from a side view. John O’K kindly sighted some other shots, and before long I was hitting the target. Hoorah. I even got a couple of golds. In fact it was a whole lot easier than I’d anticipated and I’m pleased to be through the 90m psychological barrier. Apart from more rain let’s see what tomorrow brings.

It never ceases to amaze me how accurate a bow and arrow can be. How can a sharpened stick shot with a piece of string and another bent stick work that well? When I hit the golds at 90m – i.e. the thing I was aiming for – it was an area not a lot bigger than a CD placed 90m away. That’s cool man. Far out ! Literally.

Logo shenanigans

2007-06-12T19:28:00.001+01:00

It seems crazy that a logo can cause so much fuss. The Olympic Committee launched the new logo a week ago yesterday and so far a petition has raised over 48,576 signatures for it to be changed despite it costing £400,000 to produce. How can a logo cost that much to produce anyway? And how can that much be spent before conducting some sort of public survey to gauge opinion? The Olympic Committee led by Lord Coe have defended it though. Read more here. Personally given a choice I don’t think I would have picked it, but if it helps me to get to compete in the Olympic Games in 2012, I’ll learn to love it.

Beijing 2008 Olympics

2007-06-11T12:04:00.000+01:00

Great news! I’ve been included in the Beijing 2008 Olympics (blog). See it here.

2 first class scores

2007-06-04T22:49:00.000+01:00

Well I had a look at changing my nocking point and it is too well glued on, so I decided to leave it for the time being and to perhaps buy a new string – I need a spare one anyway.

I’m glad I left things alone because this weekend I shot 2 first class scores, which means that I only have to shoot one more to get a First Class classification. I have to say that the weather was perfect for achieving a good score. On Saturday afternoon I participated in the normal club shoot which was changed at the last minute to a FITA 70m. That was good, as this is the Olympic distance - one that I hope to become extremely familiar with. So I went in at the deep end and guessed at a sight mark based on other distances that I shot. My first arrow went high, but it hit the target - a blue, so that was a good start. I've become increasing paranoid about breaking arrows by hitting the target stand since I upgraded to my fancy pants ACE shafts. A fine adjustment of my sight saw all 6 arrows land comfortably on the target. My total score of 479 was a first class score and saw me better my handicap to 43.

Sunday was an all day club competition. Not feeling up to the FITA - starting at 90m, I opted for the Lady's FITA starting at 70m. Luckily this round is also known as a Metric I which makes it slightly less embarrassing. While it's lady-like in name it's certainly not lady-like in nature as it takes all day to complete. It is made up of 3 doz arrows at 70m and 3 doz at 60m - all on a large face, and 3 doz arrows at 50m and 3 doz at 30m on a small face - 144 arrows in total. I was hot and knackered by the end and the last few arrows were a real struggle to pull through the clicker - but that worked a treat and did what it is designed to do - be an indicator of draw length. A great aid when I'm getting tired. Tiredness definitely was a factor as I thought I had better arrow groups at 70m than I did at 50m. Still I was pleased at the end to have completed the round and scored 1031 - enough for another first class score. I even got a gold medal for the best (handicap) recurve of the day.

FITA Standard

2007-06-01T20:44:00.000+01:00

This week I shot a FITA Standard, which I had never come across before. It's 3 doz arrows at 50m and 3 doz at 30m on a large face. These distances are the same as a Short Metric which I did last week, but on a larger target face.

All went well except for the odd wayward shot, and I was particularly pleased with how I'd started to get used to my clicker. It seems to be doing the job as one end at 30m I scored 58 - 10, 10, 10, 10 , 9 , 9.

I'm going to have to make more adjustments to my setup though as I noticed my nocking point (place where arrow attaches to the string) is too low. I also noticed that the arrow is sitting quite low on the button, so I'll need to adjust the arrowrest to compensate. I hope this doesn't affect things too much.

First time with clicker

2007-05-26T12:08:00.000+01:00

On Saturday I tried using a clicker for the first time. To answer a question from my previous post, a clicker is a device that attaches to the bow (normally near the grip), under which an arrow is placed. When you pull back the string and arrow, the arrow is drawn through the clicker until you reach the stage that the arrow point passes beyond the clicker. This is when the clicker makes (you guessed it) a click. The idea behind this is to allow you to maintain a consistent draw length. See this Wiki for more information.

A clicker is useful as when you get tired you tend not to pull the string back as far as you did say at the beginning of the day. This has an affect on the power of the bow and consequently where your arrows go.

My arrows are quite long and at full draw they don’t come past the front of the bow. This means that I can’t use a conventional clicker since my bow doesn’t have the capacity for a clicker extension plate. So I had the brainwave of buying a Spigarelli which mounts behind the sight block.

My first complication came when I fitted the clicker to the bow. I use an Arten Olympic sight which means that the vertical bar that has the scale on it is mounted near the bow grip. This meant that there was not enough clearance between the scale and the clicker to adjust my sight. I overcame this by fitting a washer between the clicker and the sight block.

Of course this meant that the windage on my sight was about 5mm out, so I adjusted this accordingly.

Things didn’t get much better on the field. It was windy and we shot a Short Metric round – something that I’d not done before and had no sight marks for. At 50m I took a guess – looking at my trusty notepad I had written distance conversions, and I realised that 50m is roughly half way between 50 yards and 60 yards (two distances that I did have sight marks for). That seemed ok. I also had sight marks for 30m since this is the Frostbite round distance.

Shooting with the clicker was really different to shooting without one. I had been told previously that clickers should be used to indicate that you are at the right draw length to shoot when you are ready, and not as an audible trigger – i.e. hear the click so release immediately. Even with this in mind it is really difficult. The first few times it made me physically jump when I heard the click as I squeezed my shoulder blades to get the arrow through the clicker. It feels like the click is never going to come and then just as you’re thinking about giving up and coming down it clicks. I think it’s going to take some getting used to.

Anyway, I scored 450 – not great by any means but a second class score nonetheless.

2007-05-17T20:15:00.000+01:00

I’ve just discovered a great site – all you need to know about archery at http://www.answers.com/topic/target-archery

Archery is ACE

2007-05-13T16:36:00.000+01:00

I’ve moved house to Epsom so I’ve had to take a bit of a break while I got house stuff sorted out. I’ve also had to join another archery club nearer to home (Nonsuch) as getting to GOA regularly has become too much. Still I’ve managed to get over there a couple of times: for the final Frostbite (I finished 2nd in the league missing out on 1st place to Andrew by a paltry 10 points) and for the Spring Handicap Shoot. I was also supposed to go for the St. George Shoot but I was ill.

I still haven’t managed to get my outdoor handicap down yet. I have put this down to lack of practise though, and hope to arch regularly again soon.

Having a high handicap has been quite good though as I got 1st place at the GOA Spring Handicap shoot for the Long Western round. My actual score was 536 which would have placed me 2nd behind Andrew, but luckily I had an allowance of 878 which put me ahead of him by 16 points – a sweet victory since he beat me at the Frostbite.

Other news includes the purchase of a new set of arrows. I’ve treated myself to some ACEs, and I have to say that they go like bullets. The difference between these and my old aluminiums is amazing. The trajectory is so much flatter and my bow so much quieter. I think psychologically they feel better too. I’m convinced my groups are tighter but there is no real way of proving this. I’ve also got a clicker on the way and I’m thinking about treating myself to a new sight. I should be able to recoup some of the cost by selling my current Arten Olympic. Looking forward to a good summer.

Where's the corkscrew

2007-02-06T22:25:00.000Z

I’m really sorry for the delay in writing my latest blog entry. I have no excuse other than I have been busy – and sadly not with archery. Although I have to say I have has a cracking start to the New Year.

Check out the new events list in the sidebar on the right hand side of the web site.

On the 6th January I celebrated my 1 year anniversary of doing archery. And it happened in style at the Spelthorne open Portsmouth competition where I got a new personal best and was placed 3rd on the leader board overnight with a score of 554. Sunday saw some of the stronger archers compete, but I finished the competition in 9th place overall. I am really pleased, and that’s my best result to date competing with the big boys.

The following day I scored (another) 298 in our club Frostbite tournament which I was happy with except I still hadn’t broken the psychological 300 barrier. Still it was enough for 5th place.

Since then I did the FITA 25 competition at Guildford, scoring a disappointing 485 to leave me in 51st place – a massive 91 points behind the winner. The moral of that story is don’t rest on your laurels and must keep practising.

I’ve also had a disappointing indoor practise session with a 385 Vegas round with a not so bad 248 Worcester round.

Last weekend my friends Chris, Linda and Tom came over to see me and Caroline. We had a fantastic day out at the Motorcycle show in the ExCel exhibition centre, and saw in the early hours of Sunday morning with lots of beer, wine and curry. On Sunday morning with the hangover from hell I did the Feb Frostbite competition and although feeling pretty rubbish and only just making it there in time scored 303 – finally over the 300 barrier and a personal best.

With one round to go in the Frostbite league I am 2nd in the standings just 4 points off the leader. So I have to pull out all the stops before then. Oh, and I’m in the Middlesex indoor championships on Sunday – now where’s that corkscrew!

As 2006 comes to an end

2006-12-30T14:56:00.000Z

The few weeks leading up to Christmas have been interesting. First off I entered another indoor competition at a new club called Arrowheads. They are a school based club in Barnet. Being a new club there were not a huge number of entries, but out of the 29 that were in my division I managed a respectable score of 513 which gave me 13th place – not anywhere near my recent personal best and slightly disappointing as I was hoping for a top ten placing. It was a well organised event and I liked the idea of pairing up the school kids with more experienced archers. It’s good to think that (although not quite at my one year archery anniversary) I can train, compete and give something back to the sport already.

You may have heard of a website called Crazy Goals. I have registered my 2012 Olympic Archery goal there (see this link). As such I have been approached by a filmmaker with their own goal on the site. So I met up with Jess a couple of Saturdays ago and took part in some archery filming. The footage is in production at the moment but I’ll post a link to it on my blog when it’s ready.

In the meantime I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas. Here’s looking forward to a great year of archery in 2007!

Using my new kit

2006-12-08T15:16:00.000Z

After announcing my reluctance to fit all my new kit, I received an email from Mick advising me to just go for it. I had several members at my club last Saturday tell me the same thing. So I did it - new limbs, new arrow rest, new string and new stabilisers.

The G3 limbs are sweet. I’ll post up photos of my new kit soon. As it turns out it seemed to be great advice - on Sunday in the wind and rain I top scored at our Frostbite session beating some seasoned archers.

For sale: used Sammick wood core limbs, medium lb34. In good condition with quicks limb covers. Open to offers.

Last night at our weekly indoor session I went off the rails a little bit by scoring 233 in our Worcester league. That’s disappointing after the 260 previously!

By the way the results for Surrey county Indoor are in - I came 32nd out of 59 which I'm really pleased about. Now - do I enter the nationals at Lilleshall and hope to get into the 32 cut for the head-to-heads...

Nothing ventured - nothing gained

2006-11-28T21:53:00.000Z

Well I think it’s been a successful few weeks. 4 weeks ago I managed to beat my personal best for a Portsmouth Round making it 502 – finally through the psychological 500 barrier. And 3 weeks ago I got a new Worcester personal best of 260.

Since then I’ve bettered my score for a FITA18 to 481 and I had my first go at a FITA25 attaining a score of 464

That’s not all. Last Sunday I competed in the Surrey indoor championships, which was my first major indoor competition. I’d known about it for a while and had been hesitating over whether to enter. Enter I did, albeit at the last minute (well 3 days before) and competed in group C – the last of the day starting at 4:15 pm. I knew it was going to be a good day as I scored 9s with my sighters. My wife Caroline was there cheering me on and seemed very impressed. The support and company was much appreciated since while I recognised a few faces from previous competitions, I was the only representative from my club.

Things continued well and by the end I was really pleased to have only scored one 7 (outer red), all my other arrows scoring 8, 9 or 10. By 6:30 pm it was all over and I was delighted having secured a new personal best of 533 for a Portsmouth Round – smashing my recent 502 previous best. I’d secretly been hoping for 520 but to get 533 was fantastic. I’m not sure where this places me yet but I’ll announce it when I find out.

I’m amazed. It seems there is no stopping me at the moment. Onwards and upwards to 540!

Other news – I have recently become acquainted with Mick Beard after he kindly sold me a (nearly new) second hand set of Hoyt G3 limbs. This really is top of the range kit and I hope to fit these soon and get even better scores. Psychologically they seem a bit misplaced fitting them to a Hoyt GM riser and I’m sure it won’t be long before I’m looking for a new handle – cash allowing of course. I’ve broken the £1000 barrier in dramatic style this week by spending over £300 on kit.

Mick represents Great Britain and is in the Paralympic team for Beijing 2008. What’s more he is a level designer for first person computer games – how cool is that! Check out his site here. He has also offered to help out with advice and any questions I might have. Prepare yourself! His advice so far is “Anything is possible…never forget that”. Thanks Mick – I will do my best.

I’ve also been splashing out on other kit. With part of the £300 I’ve spent I’ve obtained some second hand Beiter stabilizers. This is cool kit and I can’t wait to try them either. I’ve got a new arrow rest too, although I’m reluctant to fit it as it’s bound to affect my good run of form at the moment. Still nothing ventured - nothing gained!

Performance measurement #1

2006-11-14T08:51:00.000Z

At last you can see a measure of my performance. The graphs below show my handicap over time for this season.

Indoor:

Outdoor:

I've had a good few weeks indoors with a 416 Fita18, 428 Vegas, 502 Portsmouth and a 260 Worcester round. Lets hope it continues.

Archery video

2006-11-08T19:07:00.000Z

So here’s my archery video. Sorry about the quality.

I would be glad to receive any archery advice that can help get me to the 2012 Olympics.

Cheers now.

38/56 at the Laleham Albion

2006-10-17T22:29:00.000+01:00

At the Laleham Albion competition I got 38th place. There is a definite shift in my placings lately with me appearing someway down the list. I attribute this to competing against the top archers rather than in a lower category. Still 38th isn’t bad if you consider that it was out of 56 places.

Well the outdoor competition season is drawing to a close, and I did my first indoor practise session last Thursday. We did a Worcester Round, and I was pleased with a score of 236. That beats my score of 219 the last time I did a Worcester Round, back in March. It’s not much of an improvement granted but it’s an improvement nonetheless and certainly headed in the right direction. I am grateful for that. Of the course the formidable Gary Ward was there, rarely missing the gold.

Saturday morning was a bit breezy but it’s still good enough to shoot outdoors at the moment, and I completed a Long National Round after Andrew cajoled me into it, in the hope of getting a first-class score. Andrew is as desperate to get a second-class score, as I am to get a first-class and we egged each other on. Alas it eluded me once again as I scored 378, which was not as good as the 391 I scored in August but I think the conditions were better back then. Well that’s my excuse.

On Saturday lunchtime I was fortunate enough to have another coaching session with Jeff. We worked on getting my bow-arm relaxed with a loose grip. This has the effect of allowing the bow to leap forward when you release a shot. Believe it or not this is better than gripping the bow since that will interfere with the shot, altering the flight of the arrow. We managed to get some of it on video, so I’ll post it up on the blog when I get a chance. Thanks again Jeff.

One and a bit Americans

2006-10-09T21:07:00.000+01:00

So what is a Double American? I realise that it sounds a bit a like a new fangled type of takeaway coffee, but no; it is in fact a type of archery competition.

Normally at an archery competition one would shoot a Round (an identified set number of arrows at a predetermined number of distances). A Round as recognised by the GNAS counts towards classifications and handicaps, and one of the rules is that one should have not shot already that day.

Now a double American competition is 2 American Rounds shot back to back, which means that only the first one can be submitted for classification purposes, but the competition itself comprises both Rounds.

-----------------

With that little explanation out of the way I can report that the competition I entered got stopped in the afternoon because it was getting too dark. It was already wet having been raining continuously throughout the day interspersed with the occasional flash of lightning and clap of thunder – a bit worrying as we were on the top of a hill waving around bits of metal!

See what it was like during a brief break in the weather.

We did manage to shoot 90 arrows and the final scores were based on this, at which point I was recorded in a pitiful 44th place. All in all it was a dreadful day save for the contrived personal best (it’s the first time I’ve shot a Double American). Thanks to all at Aquarius though for organising the event and putting on a brave face in all that rain!

I faired a bit better this weekend however in the Albion competition I entered. The weather was much better and I seemed to cope with the right-to-left gusts of wind that kept blowing the arrows from my arrow rest. A score of 634 did not win any prizes or indeed count for a first-class-score (my immediate short term goal) but I’m pleased nonetheless, and will announce my competition result when the list is announced.

A prize is a prize...OK

2006-09-21T21:22:00.000+01:00

On Sunday 10th September I managed a respectable 17th place at the Woking open shoot. This was competing against the top archers in the surrounding clubs so I am really pleased with my placing. What’s more I am back on form and managed to shoot to my handicap, which is currently 46. To top it all I got a personal best for a Hereford Round, and I won a prize for the second best second-class score on the day - a bit convoluted I know but a prize is a prize! Anyway I think not to be recognised for such an archery achievement is just not...erm…cricket.

My next competition is on 1st October, which will be a Double-American Round. So I guess I’d better find out what that is then.

Well one has to take the rough with the smooth of course and despite all this good news I had to fork out for a bigger pair of trousers not so long ago as I’ve accidentally put on some weight over the summer. I don’t know how it happened. So if you’ve been watching my total spend creep up recently I’m afraid it’s not been on exciting new gadget archery equipment, just a new pair of bottle green slacks! So I’m off to the gym tomorrow…

Impossible Korean Archery

2006-09-19T19:27:00.000+01:00

How do they do it?

Crazy Goals

2006-09-17T20:47:00.000+01:00

2012 Gold gets featured on the crazy goals website this month. See a whole host of crazy goals here including the editor’s goal of playing in a band at the Albert Hall. Crazy!

That sounds like a lot of work to me

2006-08-25T17:41:00.000+01:00

I may have been on holiday but I’ve also been in touch with Michael Peart, a member of the Hoyt Pro staff and GB squad member who took part in the London 2012 archery demonstration at Lord's. Asking for advice on how I could make it into the Olympic team he replied: “I’ll happily pass on some advice that has been given to me from the 2 best archery coaches in the world. If you want an Olympic medal, you need to shoot 500 arrows a day, 6 days a week. Good luck! It’s taking me 6 hours a day to shoot the arrows, not counting the running and the gym work! Give it a try.” Wow, that sounds like a lot of work to me. To have that sort of dedication I’m going to need some serious sponsorship. Anyone got any ideas?

My turn to do the wopping

2006-08-14T15:37:00.000+01:00

Yes, it’s been my turn to do the wopping. At the club champs last week I got an Albion personal best - 676, just 24 short of a 1st class score, the highest Albion score on the day and got awarded a prize for the best 2nd class score. Things are most certainly looking up. I must get that 1st class rating before the end of the year though!

I have been working on my mind game

2006-07-31T22:19:00.000+01:00

Yes I have to confess that due to a combination of work, a bad back and really rubbish weather (it’s been too darn hot), my archery practise has been suffering. All is not lost however as with the little practise I have had I seem to be back on form. I have to thank Jeff for his coaching – that has played a major part. But I have been working on my mind game. It’s not all about wearing green and looking good you know. With the club championships coming up on Sunday I am determined to do well – but not let that affect me to the point where I become obsessed. That will only serve to increase the pressure, which will lead to me doing badly. Calm, cool and collected is the name of the game (and as much archery practise as I can manage between now and Sunday). Wish me luck!

Coaching really helped me

2006-07-02T15:30:00.000+01:00

I was really disappointed with my score of 646 at the Mole Valley competition. That’s even worse than my effort at Spelthorne. I suppose the good news is that I didn’t bend any more arrows.

On the back of this performance I spoke to Mike and Jeff about getting some coaching. Jeff kindly offered to coach me, and on Thursday I turned up to the archery field hoping that I would find some improvement in my shooting. Jeff first of all just got me to shoot arrows at 30 yards, while he observed and took notes.

After a few dozen arrows, Jeff and I discussed where I was going wrong. One of my biggest problems is my grip on the bow. This is what we decided to concentrate on correcting. A few more arrows shot and encouragement from Jeff really saw my arrow groupings tighten up. So much so that by the end of the session I was really pleased with how things had gone.

It goes without saying that I have to practise, but I also need to come up with some short-term goals and do my strength training. The strength training comes in the form of doing regular daily exercises with my bow – setting it up and pulling the string to full-draw as if I was shooting.

Wopped by the girls

2006-06-14T22:20:00.000+01:00

Quite frankly I'm amazed. I've had very little practise recently and during the practise I've had managed to bend 2 arrows and ruin the fletches on another. Despite this, bending another arrow during the competition and shooting really badly I managed to secure a 3rd place with 703 points. I'm amazed. I'm also secretly a bit gutted not to win as 1st place was taken with around 760 points. If I'd managed to score with some of my 15 misses I might have managed it. The truth is though that I shot as well/badly as I did and got 3rd and since my goal was to come in the top three I'm really pleased. I won't mention that the lady's round 1st place score was 1059 and 941 for 3rd.

Gearing up for Spelthorne

2006-06-06T22:09:00.000+01:00

So we’ve had more and more rain recently, which has kept me away from the archery field. And the good days we’ve had I couldn’t make because of other engagements. This doesn’t bode well for the competition coming up on 11th June as I need all the practise I can get. Luckily I managed to tear myself away from work at a reasonable time today and get some shooting in this evening. It’s funny how you hear people (particularly beginners) talking about "firing a bow". Of course one cannot fire a bow, as there is no explosion involved. Anyway, the weather has been perfect for archery this evening – sunny with a slight tail-breeze to keep us cool. I managed about an hour and a half shooting at 80 yards – the distance I’ll be shooting on Sunday at Spelthorne. I was fairly happy with how it went (a few misses and not many groupings to speak of), one because I haven’t picked a bow up in over a week, and two I was concentrating mainly on my form. I’m hoping to get some more practise in on Thursday evening and Saturday morning (hopefully back home in time to watch the first England World Cup game). I must remember not to drink too much as it’s an early start on Sunday and having the shakes will just not do!

Last week was the Middlesex County Championships. I didn’t enter I hasten to add as at the time the entries were required I just wasn’t ready. This has got me thinking though – at what point on my journey to the 2012 Olympics should I need to be winning the County Championships? I guess the answer is as soon as possible. And so it is with this in mind that I have decided to set that as a goal for next year. Wish me luck!

Much work to be done

2006-05-22T22:01:00.000+01:00

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been dodging the rain and trying to get some practise in. Last Saturday I shot my first 80-yard round called a Long Warwick. I think it’s aptly named, as at 80 yards the target does seem a long way away. I can only dream of shooting at 100 yards and hitting the target. Mind you I said that about 80 yards when I first started, and I have found that I can usually get all 6 arrows on the target face at that distance.

I was due to enter another Windsor competition (60-yards) soon, but since I won the last two the pressure (put on myself you understand) has been on to up the ante as it were and start competing with the big boys. So, I have withdrawn my entry and committed to a Hereford (80-yard) competition on the 11th June. All I need now is to give up work so I can get down to the archery field and practise while it’s not dark or raining.

By the way my Long Warwick score was an extremely disappointing 204 – third class. Much work to be done!

Missing hamper

2006-05-10T21:28:00.000+01:00

Some people have been asking what my tent it like and how much I paid for it. Well it's a Eurohike Beach Shelter, but the deluxe model I hasten to add! And I paid £16.99. I think that's a corking price for a fantastic bit of kit. Sadly though after getting home and opening the bag I discovered that the wicker hamper was missing. Maybe it fell out of the wrapper in my haste to get home :-)

How can I be disappointed with a P.B?

2006-05-09T22:53:00.000+01:00

On Sunday we had the annual Greenwood Osterley Archers handicap shoot. As I’ve explained before, archery is a bit like golf in that one acquires a handicap. During a handicap shoot one is awarded a number of points (based on the handicap) to boost ones score shot on the target. This means that archers shooting at different distances and with different capabilities can compete against one another.

I was sporting a new tent (a purchase from the day before), because I’d learnt my lesson from the Richmond Pagoda shoot a couple of weeks prior to this where it had rained all day only brightening up for us to pack away our wet equipment. For some reason I seem to be on an eternal quest to get a bargain and never pay a lot for my kit, so I was delighted to discover that Millets sell beach shelters. These seem to offer a good amount of headroom with a wide opening – perfect for my chair and all my other kit. My next purchase could well be a wheelbarrow to lug all this stuff about.

As far as the archery went, I have to admit to being slightly disappointed. Yes, I scored 654 - a personal best as this was my first Western Round; yes this was the highest score on the day for a Western Round (a win of sorts I suppose); yes it was a second class rated score (that’s three now which I think is enough to qualify as a second class archer); and yes it turned out I shot according to my handicap (46 by the way). See the official results here.

How can I be disappointed with a P.B. you may ask. Well I know I can shoot better than that. In fact I got a higher score at 60 yards than I did at 50 yards. That’s not right for starters, as it should be the other way round. The trouble is I don’t know what I was doing wrong. Could it be the old favourite of trying too hard?

Tonight I visited the archery field after work to get some much-needed practise to try and iron out my problems. I shot well enough and even had a go at shooting 80 yards managing to get most of them on the target (once I’d sorted out my sight mark). So I’m going to put Sunday’s experience down to "one of those things" and move on.

Two wins in two weeks

2006-04-27T21:37:00.000+01:00

Well, who would have thought it - I’ve already got another competition win under my belt. This one was the Windsor round at the Richmond Pagoda shoot. Sorry for the delay in posting this week, but I've been waiting for the tournament results to be published. See the tournament results here.

It was an early start, as I had to get there for 9AM just to get a parking space. And it was raining. The weather seemed to reflect my mood from the day before because I’d had a really frustrating time tuning my bow to my new set of arrows. I’d also fitted a new arrow rest. Jeff and Duncan showed me how to do the tuning, but I just couldn’t get it right. After 2 hours of trying I decided to give it up as a bad job, therefore having no sight markings for the arrows. I couldn’t use my old arrows because of all the adjustments I’d made.

I think my next purchase might be a large fishing umbrella or better still a tent for these sorts of occasions. But then the weather was so unpredictable as we’d had a really hot day previously – and what’s more got sunburnt.

So the competition started, and I made a guess at a sight marking. I got it wrong and my first arrow landed in the white ring – 1 point. I was pleased that I’d at least hit the target. After adjusting the sight I scored a couple of 5’s – that’s the blue ring, but to my amazement the others landed in the red – 7 points each. A further adjustment saw me hitting some golds in subsequent ends. Things got better and better, and I got more accurate as the distances came down, first to 50 yards, and then to 40. At 50 yards, I even got a six gold end.

By the end of the day I’d hit 51 golds with 108 arrows – almost 50%; scored 820 points – a new personal best; achieved a second class rated score (the maximum at that distance) and amazingly done enough to take first place.

It felt great going to the front collect my trophy and medal from Lady Paramount, especially when my other club members whooped and cheered.

More of the same please!

Olympic Gold Ball 2006 Application

2006-04-22T21:02:00.000+01:00

Today I received an application form for the Olympic Gold Ball 2006. It’s only £2750 + VAT for a table of 8, but you do get an Olympian at your table. I think I’ll be giving it a miss this year. Still it was exciting to have received some mail with a British Olympic Association postmark on it.

www.flickr.com

I got the competition high score

2006-04-19T20:53:00.000+01:00

On Saturday I just practised at a distance of 60 yards, as that is what I’d be shooting at during the Windsor Round in the GOA St. Georges competition on Sunday. I didn’t take any score, as I didn’t want to put any pressure on myself.

On Sunday morning I gathered together my kit, and put on my new green trousers and white polo shirt – it’s GNAS rules to wear green or white. I suppose it looks quite good when we are all lined up on the shoot, but you do feel a bit conspicuous on route to the venue, especially when filling the car up with unleaded at the local garage. Still it was early in the morning so I don’t think too many people saw me.

Arriving at the club, there were people already there and setting up. I checked in, and proceeded to find a position near my target where I could set up and from which Caroline could comfortably view. I have to say that the chairs we bought last week came in very handy.

I donned my new bright blue chest guard – a sort of one-sided bra affair (why are you allowed to wear a blue chest guard when your other clothing has to be white or green) and was ready for action.

Amazingly I found myself in third place after the first stint at 60 yards. After lunch we shot at the 50-yard target, but I wasn’t sure about my sight mark. When my first arrow landed in the gold I was sure it was going to be a good day. Within a couple of ends I’d moved up to second place and an end or so later had moved into first place. The consistency paid off and I continued to extend the lead. I was worried when we came to shoot the 40-yard target that suddenly everyone would be finding the gold. I hadn’t shot at 40 yards for a few weeks, but I needn’t have worried as I’d stretched out a lead that was going to be difficult to catch. So in the end I had got the high score with 782 (see it here), a personal best and beaten the score required for a second-class rating. What a fantastic weekend. I think even Caroline enjoyed it.

More money spent

2006-04-10T23:02:00.000+01:00

I spent some money this week, as I needed to buy a couple of chairs. I'll use these during the archery competition coming up on Sunday. Fortunately I managed to get them for only £4.49 each from Homebase. A bargain I'm sure you'll agree, but let's see how long they last I suppose.

www.flickr.com

She’s a beauty eh.

There are only 7 arrows in the set that came with my bow. That's all well and good until I break one, then I'd be constantly worried about breaking another one because you need 6 to shoot an end. Jeff offered me a set of 12 new (second-hand) arrows, and so I have snapped these up. Some of them are already fletched. The unfletched ones will come in handy when I tune my bow, but I'll leave that until after the competition on Sunday. Spending £40 on these arrows has pushed my overall outlay to over £500 - a milestone of sorts. Any Sponsors out there please get in touch.

I got a new personal best on Saturday scoring 262 on my first Warwick Round.

Carbon or not to carbon?

2006-04-07T18:59:00.000+01:00

On Tuesday I managed to get down to the archery field in the early evening while it was still light. Fortunately Joe was already there and shooting, and he agreed that I could join him on the target he'd set up. The only trouble was that it was at 70 metres, which is a lot further than the 60 yards that I've shot previously. I thought I would give it a go though - what did I have to loose? As it turned out not a lot. I had a guess at the position of my sight and moved it back an inch or two from the 60-yard sight marking. I let the first arrow go and it fell well short of the target. Joe watched on as I moved the sight back a further inch and let another arrow go. This too fell short of the target, and it was at this point that Joe offered some advice and said for me to put my sight all the way back and as far down as it would go. The next arrow hit the top of the target and with some fine adjustment I managed to get a grouping on the target. I was amazed how much I'd had to adjust my sight for what amounted to an increase in distance of 16 yards; from 60 to 76. As Joe went on to explain - the fact that I'm using aluminium arrows (instead of carbons) means they fly a lot more slowly that in turn means that I'm aiming higher to get the required trajectory. If I switch to carbon arrows I should be able to shoot more than 70 metres comfortably, but that would also mean switching limbs to match the arrows. And of course that means spending money - something that I'm trying to avoid. Part of my mission is to get to the 2012 Olympics as cheaply as possible, but then there is the new gadget factor!

Saturday really was a disappointment

2006-04-04T09:33:00.000+01:00

Saturday really was a disappointment as although I managed to complete another National Round, I only scored 378. This is still a third-class rated score (so that’s some consolation) but it is way off the 436 I scored last week. What’s happened? Ok it was a bit blustery, but I don’t want to look for excuses. Am I trying too hard? I think I need to go back to basics – checking everything from my stance to my anchor point etc. I might even try and get some coaching.

So near yet so far

2006-03-28T20:59:00.000+01:00

It seems I got it wrong in my last Blog. Far from being a mile away one needs a score of 436 for a second-class rating in a National Round. I must have been looking at the tables for Compound bows instead of Recurve. What this means of course is that I was only 12 points away – a score I’m sure I could have easily achieved if I’d had another 2 arrows to shoot. So near yet so far of course. This is really exciting, as perhaps I will get the chance to shoot another round on Saturday where I will try and better 424 to maybe get the second-class rating. Watch this space.

No Easter egg this time

2006-03-26T20:44:00.000+01:00

On Thursday we had our last indoor shoot of the season and as such we had a fun shoot. This involved shooting in teams and getting points by hitting the various items pinned to the bosses. We had things like letters of the alphabet where each letter hit could be used to form a word – a bit like archery-scrabble I guess. I wasn’t part of the winning team (and therefore didn’t win an Easter egg) but we had a good laugh and so the evening lived up to its name. So that’s it for the indoor shooting this season. Hopefully we will get the light and weather soon to be able to shoot in the evenings. I’m really looking forward to that.

Saturday was a glorious sunny morning in contrast to the recent weather we’ve been having and so this week I was able to shoot a National Round (4-dozen arrows at 60 yards followed by 2-dozen at 50 yards. And yes you’ve guessed right – it was my first one so I achieved a new personal best with a score of 424. What’s more, according to the classifications section of my GNAS handbook, this qualifies as a third-class rating. Not the best I’m sure you’ll agree – but I’m pleased that it’s enough to at least get a rating. A second-class rating is a distant 509 points but there’s a challenge!

In addition my GNAS membership card arrived this week– so I’m now officially signed up. No excuses.

Highs and lows

2006-03-19T18:27:00.000Z

The high last week saw me hitting another personal best with a score of 449 during a FITA-18 Round. I was pleased with that. Like last week I shared a boss with Ilene (from Brent Valley Archers), and again like last week she scored more than me. At the end of the round she said that I had done well, and invited me to join them at their indoor shoot on Wednesday night (a thought rushed through my head – that’s Gary Ward’s club – maybe an opportunity to get some coaching). I had to graciously decline however as Wednesday night is one of my Taekwondo training nights. Still, it’s nice to be asked. Thanks Ilene.

The low happened on Saturday, when I had to abandon my first National Round after 3 ends because of the weather. It was so blustery that I couldn’t even stand still on the shooting line. This was extremely disappointing as it would have been another personal best. We’ll see what next week brings. One consolation was that I got a free beer in the bar afterwards, and put my name down for my first Windsor competition.

2 personal bests last week

2006-03-13T21:34:00.000Z

2 personal bests last week: Thursday, indoor Worcester - 219; Saturday, Short National – 486

Thursday night saw me shoot me first indoor Worcester round. This round differs from a usual round not only in that 5 arrows are used per end, but also that a black and white target face is used, and scoring is 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1. I liked it, as the white centre on the target tends to focus you more. Once again Gary Ward (the indoor county champion) shot well – I was keeping a beady eye on him from a distance.

Saturday was another freezing day, but offered another opportunity to get some much-needed practise all the same. I decided to shoot a round in order to start submitting my scores for a handicap and thought I would have a go at 50 and 40 yards respectively having not shot either of those distances yet with my new kit. This as it turns out is a Short National round if you shoot 4-dozen arrows at 50 yards and 2-dozen arrows at 40 yards. Standing on the shooting line, the target looked an awfully long way away, and what’s more I didn’t have a sight-marking. Fortunately before you start to record your score you get a number of sighting-shots; in this case 6. My first arrow went straight over the target: I had guessed where my bow-sight should be set so this wasn’t entirely surprising. Adjusting my sight up (always follow the arrows when adjusting your sight – if the arrow goes too high, move the sight up; and similarly wind it in towards the riser if the arrows are going too far right) my second arrow landed on the target but at the bottom. By the end of my sighting shots I’d managed to land a couple in the gold. Perfect. With numb fingers I went on to shoot a score of 486. Ok it was my first time but it’s still a personal best!

Three times in a week

2006-03-06T22:27:00.000Z

I managed to get to archery three times over the last week, something that I will have to do more and more often as my Olympic training hots up. Here’s my account of what happened last week:

Thursday night

On Thursday night I took part in the GOA indoor championships. There were about 15 of us hoping for success at our winter indoor venue. We shot a Portsmouth round – 5-dozen arrows at a 20-metre target. I was pleased with a score of 469 although sneaking a look at the other score sheets I released that this was a long way off most other scores, somewhat distant from the magic 500 and nowhere near the perfect 600. Still I’m only on week 10, and some of these people have been shooting for over 10 years. One such guy on the shooting line next to me, and recording the scores for our target, was excellent. He seemed to be getting gold after gold, and it was only later in the week that I learned it was Gary Ward – the indoor county champion. Wow. I’d actually met a champion and shot in the same competition as him. I suppose it was lucky that I didn’t beat him – it could have been embarrassing.

Saturday

Saturday practise was spent utilising the 30-metre target. This was mainly because we would be shooting that distance on Sunday, and I wanted to beat my score of 223 from last time. Concentrating on the gold for the umpteenth time I remembered the line from Zen in the Art of Archery: “The contest is not with the arrow or the target but with oneself”. I thought I’d try and remember that for Sunday. In the bar I talked to Duncan about archery technique and explained that when I draw to a certain point before my back muscles take over that I was beginning to shake. He advised me to keep the draw continuous and not to pause. Something I thought I’d try out.

Sunday

Sunday morning was gorgeous. Relatively speaking anyway. We’ve had so many freezing windy weekends recently I was beginning to wonder if getting out of bed was worth it just for a bit of archery. But in true Rocky style I’ve been putting in the training - this week at least. I arrived to a frenzy of activity on the archery field. It looked like the weather had brought everyone out. I diligently put together my bow remembering to make sure everything was tight and that I’d clicked in my bow limbs. I set my sight mark (recorded from the previous day), and after a few warm up exercises I was ready for action. John called out the shooting positions and we got started. I tried out the advice I’d been given and kept my draw deliberately slow so I could make a continuous movement between my arm and back. It seemed to work. I felt strong throughout the round producing a final score of 255 beating my effort a month ago by 32 points. Fantastic. I can’t wait for the summer it’s going to be great.

First outdoors shoot with new kit

2006-02-27T14:38:00.000Z

I’ve come to the conclusion over the years that it’s great to own gadgets, especially if they’re shiny. And so it was on 10 o’clock Saturday morning I walked onto the field at Greenwood Osterley Archers to have a go with my new (second hand) kit.

I’d already bought a new Fastflight string to replace the Dacron one that came with the bow, and my first task was to find someone to help me put the nocking point on it. Salesh duly complied with my request for assistance and then I was ready for action.

He seemed keen to get me shooting at a 50-yard target, but I wanted to start a lot nearer than that in order to set up my sight mark at various distances. Beginning on the 20-yard target I was pleased that my first few arrows were hitting the target. I adjusted the sight accordingly and was soon hitting the gold in a good grouping. I stayed there for a few ends making sure everything seemed right before moving on to the 30-metre target. Again I was pleasantly surprised to be getting a good grouping, and noted my sight mark for future reference.

One problem was that there was a howling tail wind. This didn’t make things easy and it will be interesting to see how my sight marks are affected by still conditions; something I will find out at the indoor shoot on Thursday.

Zen in the Art of Archery

2006-02-21T18:21:00.000Z

As a consequence of having been away over the weekend (on a port tasting trip to Portugal – highly recommended by the way), I have no Saturday archery news. I did however go to the indoor venue on Thursday night for the first time. There were two motives behind this: the first being to get some practise because I’d be missing the Saturday; and the second being to meet up with John. Having been given John’s number a few days earlier, I had spoken with him to arrange a meeting. This was because John had some archery kit to sell! So it was on a dark squally Thursday last week that I met up with him and his archery stuff.

Buying equipment rule #1
Try it out. I had been cautioned on several occasions that I should consider trying out any equipment before purchasing it. This is especially true of second-hand kit, and John kindly agreed to let me have a go with it.

Buying equipment rule #2
Get a second opinion. As a complete novice at this game it is advisable to get a second opinion as to the condition of the equipment. It may have been misused or even merely stored inappropriately. Archery equipment isn’t cheap, and it would be a shame to spend ones hard-earned cash on sub-standard kit that at best might perform inconsistently and therefore inaccurately or at worst fail altogether causing injury.
It is also useful to have the objective mind of a third-party to hand as it is easy to get carried away and agree to buy the shiniest piece of equipment because it is just that – shiny! The fact that the model of John’s bow is a Hoyt Gold Medallist immediately rang alarm bells with me. With emotions running high, I so wanted to have a bow called a “Gold Medallist” – it just seemed so right.

So after I had had a few shots Salesh gave the equipment the “once-over” and me a satisfied nod. I had a cursory ponder as to the meaning of life and decided it was time to part with some cash.

I counted out the required number of twenty-pound notes. This seemed an emotional affair rather than some sort of back-alley deal while John and I shook hands to secure the transaction. I just knew I’d done the right thing. It felt good. Maybe without knowing it I’d experienced Zen in the Art of Archery.

Well, you never know

2006-02-13T13:47:00.000Z

As a beginner I’m still learning the techniques of shooting an arrow. Over the past couple of weeks I have been concentrating on using my back muscles to draw the bow. This seems so unnatural but means that there is less pressure on your biceps. It’s getting easier but I do find it weird, and have a tendency to over-extend that means I jerk my bow-hand when I loose the arrow. In addition I have been holding the string too deeply in my finger joint. Holding the string with my fingertips means I am getting a better release because I am not plucking the string. I guess it takes time to get it right and find a style that it both comfortable and consistent.

This weekend I practised on the 40-yard and the 30-yard target, shooting 4-dozen and 2-dozen arrows respectively. Since my introductory lessons are now complete I also parted with a cheque to pay for my full membership of the club and GNAS. I’m looking forward to receiving my membership card and pin badge soon.

A nice touch at the end of the session was that the club president presented all the beginners with a certificate of merit that certifies that we have successfully completed a six-week training course in elementary archery. We had our photo taken and I’ll see if I can get a copy to post on the blog.

During the usual debrief in the clubhouse, I broke the news to a few of the members that I was attempting to make it to the 2012 Olympics. Failing to be specific I got direct relies questioning “What in archery”? Sheepishly replying “yes”, the overall consensus seemed to be “Well, you never know”.

Blog kudos

2006-02-10T12:52:00.000Z

Twenty Twelve Gold has been listed as a Shop Partner Blog with Spreadshirt; the site that allows you to start a shop, design and sell your own products online. Of course you can get all your Twenty Twelve Gold merchandise here.

What a weekend

2006-02-06T12:42:00.000Z

Friday night

I went out on Friday night to the Casino with my mates Umesh, G and Stuart. The main purpose was simply to catch up because I’d not seen these dudes for a while. I also wanted to experiment with tips I’d picked up from the book, which I’d read over New Year. G is a member of a London Casino so it seemed like the perfect combination. I’m happy to say that I managed to turn £20 in £65, and I’d like to go again soon to see if the success can be repeated. Could this be a new way to fund my archery?

Last week’s mention of ski archery led us to talking about more obscure sports. Stuart, reckoned that there was a new sport called Russian chess boxing, where opponents have to box for a round before playing chess and boxing again. No, I didn’t believe it either but I found a reference to it on Mondo Thingo, and then after some further digging came across the World Chess Boxing Organisation. Wow! After discovering this I’ve got to start a “Weird Sports” list. Watch this space.

Saturday morning

The bad news is that even after last week’s success I didn’t get to have a go on the 50-metre target. The good news was that instead I was invited to compete in the club competition on Sunday, and therefore practised on the 30-metre target with a smaller target face – just how it would be on competition day. Of course I jumped at the chance, and merrily practised making sure to note my sight mark at the end of the session. I’m coming to the end of my set of lessons, and it’s time to start thinking about getting my own equipment. Some of the other club members let me have a go with their bows. Their tackle is a real step up from the training bow. The most notable difference is the increase in poundage – I suppose both in draw weight and monetary terms. These bows are cool. I’ve got to get one.

Saturday afternoon

Caroline and I visited our friends Paul and Sarah in Staffordshire, but it meant a flying visit because the archery competition started at 10 am on Sunday. Once through the barrage of men-in-tights jokes they both took an interest in my archery quest, even coining a new name for me – Nick Stringwalker, after a style of aiming without sights. I like the Star Wars connotations, and maybe I can utilise the Force (. Guys - Thanks for the support and great mushroom stroganoff.

Sunday morning

We got up bleary-eyed at 6:30 for the drive back to London, and made it in time to get to the archery competition. As I pulled into the club car park, I suddenly got a wave of nervousness. By the time I’d parked and walked over to the clubhouse it had gone and I was ready to get started. I borrowed an old quiver that was knocking about and what with my new tab really felt the part. The atmosphere was different from a normal training day, as it seemed somewhat more serious although being a club competition a healthy banter remained throughout. I shot onto target number 7 with my six sighting arrows before the competition proper. Could I get a grouping – no, and there was no one there to tell me what I was doing wrong as I was competing against them!
I dug in and concentrated more, making sure to go through my checklist. Over time my shots improved, and in the penultimate end with 3 arrows scored a 10, 10 and 6. That was my best end. An overall score of 223 was disappointing but I’d improved consistently with each dozen arrows and felt I’d had some great practise to boot. This weeks lesson is definitely – practise, practise, practise.

Ski archery

2006-02-01T14:56:00.000Z

Having been on a fantastic cross-country skiing holiday with Caroline, we are hooked. Hosted by Waymark Holidays we had an excellent time on a grade one beginner’s course at Kamben. So much so that having returned home I started a Google search to see if I could combine this sport with archery. I knew that biathlon exists, and to my delight discovered the concept of Ski archery. Now at the moment it seems that this is not an Olympic discipline, but by 2014 perhaps it will be. Maybe I’ll have the chance to do the double – Gold in Archery at the 2012 Summer Games and Gold in Archery Biathlon at the 2014 Winter Games. For the moment though I’ll concentrate my efforts on the 2012 Games. Another interesting idea is Golf archery. I’ll start looking into entering the Ryder Cup…

Spandex and Half-Windsors

2006-01-29T17:00:00.000Z

On Friday night in the pub my friends congratulated me on my success so far, and are beginning to realise that I am taking this archery malarkey seriously. Thanks to you all. I have even had genuine offers of help: thank you Pauline for offering to be my project manager – lets discuss timescales and come up with a timeline of milestones. Thanks also to Mel for offering to be my marketing manager and clothing designer, although her initial suggestion that I should wear emerald green spandex with gold piping leaves a little to be desired and might adversely affect her job application. Fortunately emerald green and gold are not recognised as one of the official clothing colours by the GNAS. Disturbingly however, there is no mention of a ban on Spandex.

After arriving at the club the following morning I helped put up a few targets and picked my usual club equipment from the assortment of bows, arrows, sights and other bits and pieces that had been laid out.

This morning my Google sidebar weather monitor had informed me it was zero degrees – brghhhh! It was especially important to do the warm-up exercises before shooting any arrows.

I was going to do a round today: 4-dozen arrows at 40 yards and 2-dozen arrows at 30 yards. Apparently these things have names like a Bristol or a York or a Half-Windsor, which sound more like knots for neckties to me.

There was a disconcerting tail wind today and I wondered how this would affect my accuracy. It wasn’t too long before I found out as I had a slightly disappointing morning not being able to get much consistency. A bit later the wind died and I started to get back into my stride. My groupings improved and I was increasingly satisfied. Once again however towards the end I started to tire and a couple of wayward shots and a few misses brought my score back down.

A score of 273 for a 50-yard 4-dozen was slightly disappointing. Afterwards in the bar I got plenty of encouragement from the other archers. Some said I was doing really well, others thought I had the right temperament. I was even told my score was just about good enough to have a go at 50 yards next week. I hope that’s true, as it would really mark a milestone in my progress. It seems that most beginners (in their 6 lesson introduction) don’t get off the 30-yard target, and I had only just completed my 4th lesson. This is all encouraging stuff and great to hear.

Fame at last!

2006-01-23T10:29:00.000Z

Fame at last! I feature in the latest newsletter from insidethegames, a website and accompanying e-newsletter aiming to be the authoritative guide to the build up to the London 2012 Olympic Games. You can subscribe to the newsletter here. Thanks for your support guys!

What a difference a week makes

2006-01-21T14:17:00.000Z

What a difference a week makes. Today the weather is a lot drier and brighter. Not to mention warmer. This gave me the feeling that it was going to be a good day.

I was immediately put back on the 30-yard target. This time, however, I was given a more powerful bow. This one was a 31lbs compared to the 22lb-training bow that I had been using. This time around I was given no guidance in setting my target sight and inevitably my first arrow flew some way above the target. The difference in bow was apparent straight away as the arrows were noticeably flying straighter and faster. I was certain though that once I’d set my sight up correctly, I would get more accuracy. I just needed to remember the checklist – stance, composure, breathing, grip, rhythm etc. There’s a lot to remember so it’s not surprising that things are forgotten from time to time.

I went on to shoot a round of 36 arrows. I was really pleased with my first dozen, managing to score 96 points.

My last dozen was a different story however as I began to tire and make mistakes. Still overall I managed a score of 282 – a personal best, and being over the required 200 points was informed that in the next lesson I could move onto a 40-yard target. That is slightly daunting as it’s competing with the big-boys, but I have to say I’m certainly pleased with my progress!

Well I think lesson 2 went OK

2006-01-15T22:25:00.000Z

Well I think lesson 2 went OK. I still found it difficult to get out of bed when the alarm went off though.

On the range I was immediately put on the 30-yard target. Well not actually on it, but shooting at the 30-yard target. I thought “this distance must sort the men from the boys”, but I have to admit I was impressed later by some of the shots I saw at the 60-yard target from some of the club’s longer serving members with their gadgety and shiny equipment.

It took me an “end” (archery speak for a specified number of arrows shot before you collect them) to get my sights correctly adjusted, but I am pleased to announce that I did not miss the target throughout the entire session - that was 78 arrows without missing!

I was soon introduced to the concept of scoring and I was to shoot six ends to a “round”; that’s 36 arrows. The scoring added a bit of pressure, as I needed to score over 200 points in order to progress.

For the scoring system we were using, a gold is 9 points, a red 7 points, blue 5 points, black 3 points and white 1 point.

When scoring you tell the scorer the points that each arrow has scored starting with the highest scoring arrow to the lowest scoring and any misses. You point at but don’t touch the arrows. I was surprised to learn that an arrow only has to be slightly touching a line on the target to be rounded up to the higher score. As it turned out that worked in my favour as I did have a few dodgy shots.

I was finding it difficult to get a consistent grouping and I wondered if it was anything to do with the crosswind that was blowing across the range; more likely it was me though, and I raised this with my instructor. He said that I am still using a training bow and the power is not that good so it would start to struggle at the 30-yard distance. This prompted a brief chat about buying my own equipment and we agreed to discuss it afterwards in the bar.

In my first round I scored 266. That is an average of 7.4 points per arrow. I was pretty pleased with that but hoped I could better it and really impress in the second round.

That’s when things started to deteriorate. I think I was trying too hard and getting increasingly frustrated with myself. I started developing bad habits from nowhere, like clutching the bow as I released the arrow. This had an immediate affect on my score I knew I wasn’t going to do as well this time. I was worried that I wouldn’t even make 200 points.

With the last few arrows and some great coaching I seemed to get it back to together, and came away with a score of 234. I’d done it. I’d beaten the magic 200-point barrier twice!

After the session we moved to the bar where over a cup of hot sugary tea I discussed the finer points of how much cash I would have to part with to buy some equipment. Looking at the catalogue it really does seem that the sky is the limit, but I was informed, thankfully, that I could get up and running for £500 or so. That still seems like a lot of money to me – maybe you can’t attach a price to success, but I have to say that the gear does look extremely gadgety and shiny:-)

Well I’ve done it

2006-01-07T13:23:00.000Z

Well I’ve done it. It took a New Year resolution to kick start me, but I booked a place with my local club.

The alarm went off this morning and I did not want to get up. It’s freezing today. And raining. I wondered if it would be called off, but I had to turn up to find out. Having made a flask of tea, donned my base layers and woolly hat I set off in the car.

I was first to arrive and thought that it would be cancelled but a few minutes later other people started to arrive. It seems these archery folk are a hardy bunch.

After a brief safety talk and a bit of form filling I was issued with an arm protector, a bow and some arrows, and we started shooting. It was pleasing to be having a taster so quickly.

My first few goes were quite good. Ok, the target was only 12 feet away, but I managed to get some good groupings. So much so in fact that after about my fifth go I was moved up a notch.

Now the target was a good 20 feet away, and I was given some pointers as to where I was going wrong with some of my shots. I relaxed into it and before long I was hitting golds. Fantastic!

It started snowing and turned even colder. Pulling the metal arrows out of the target was torture, and my hands were like blocks of ice. The excitement of hitting golds kept me going though. A thought whizzed through my head: “I wonder how difficult it is to get into the Olympic team”.

Still it’s early days. We’ll see how I get on next week with lesson 2.

Ok so a few weeks have gone by

2006-01-06T21:49:00.000Z

Ok so a few weeks have gone by and my friends have been asking how the training has been going. I have to admit I’m not out of the starting blocks yet.

I’ve announced to my friends in the pub

2006-01-06T21:45:00.000Z

I’ve announced to my friends in the pub that I’m going to win gold in archery at the 2012 Olympics. To their credit they took it in their stride. I thought it came across as a bit bold. Never mind. I going to join a club and start the long road to Olympic glory.

So we've won the bid

2006-01-06T21:30:00.000Z

So we’ve won the bid to host the 2012 Olympics in London. Hoorah! This has got me wondering – how can I participate? I’m not interested in being a volunteer helper (although I’m sure their efforts are much appreciated). I want to compete. I want to be a winner. I want a gold medal. I am currently 34. The bad news is that I’ll be 41 during the Olympics, made worse by the fact that I’ll be 42 at the end of that year. Clearly the 100-metre dash and Judo will be out of my range by then. I’m not exactly a contender now. Come to think of it what will I be able to do? I’m not a good swimmer; I don’t like horses; I have a distinct inability to use a table tennis bat; and I can’t ride a bicycle without getting saddle sore. It’s not looking good.