On the 6th of december 11 archers from UWAC took part in the Archery GB national indoor championships. The tournament is open entry and consists of an 18m ranking round with the top 32 archers in each category moving on to head to head matchplay. The level of competition at this level is tough, and the difference between 32nd and 33rd was decided by a single point or by a shoot off in every category. Team awards were made based on ranking scores, and the club recurve team (Tom Hall, Maddie Meatyard, James Jeffs and Jorge Lindley) placed 5th overall, while Tom was part of both the Warwickshire and West Midlands teams that won the county and reigonal competitions respectively.
In matchplay, both Tom (8th seed) and Maddie (15th seed) made the cut of 32 and gave good accounts of themselves. Maddie recovered from a 3-1 deficit and closed out her first match against the 18th seed with 27,28,29 in the final three ends. This set up a tough 2nd round match against 2nd seeded GB squad member Becky Martin who shot 6 tens in a row to see off the challenge. After a low scoring but straightforward first round match, Tom snatched victory from the Jaws of defeat against 9th seed Michael Judd, recovering from 4-0 down to win 6-4 and progress to a quarter final against top ranked Larry Godfrey. It was a high scoring match, but averaging 29/30 was not enough for Tom, who lost 6-4 to finish the competition in 5th place overall.
All in all it was an intense day of competition and a great opportunity for UWAC archers to test themselves outside of the student competition circuit. There was some great scoring, high pressure shots and as usual a strong performance in the raffle. Well done to everyone who took part!
The score breakdown for the team is as follows:
Combined score: 2138, 72 Golds.
| Archer | Score | Golds |
|---|---|---|
| Tom Hall | 568 | 31 |
| Maddie Meatyard | 535 | 19 |
| James Jeffs | 523 | 13 |
| Jorge Lindley | 512 | 9 |
