Two Burnham-On-Sea youngsters have competed in a national archery competition this month.
Darragh and Molly Joyce travelled to the Junior National Outdoor Archery Competition at Archery GB’s base in Lilleshall, Shropshire.
Darragh, who attends King Alfred School, competed in the U12 Boys recurve bow category, which is the Olympic Bowstyle, and Molly, who attends Brent Knoll Primary school, competed in the U12 girls Longbow category.
Darragh won both Saturday and Sunday’s competitions, which means he is currently the national indoor and outdoor archery champion in his age group.
Molly finished second on both days, and was beaten by the previous year’s champion. Darragh’s ultimate goal is to go to the Olympics.
The competition consisted of a metric round on the Saturday, where the archers shot 144 arrows at distances measured in metres and the targets had 10 scoring zones, 1 to 10.
On Sunday there was an imperial round, where the archers shot 144 arrows at distances measured in yards and the target had 5 scoring zones, 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9.
Both types of rounds consist of shooting a set number of arrows at different distances. In Darragh’s case this was between 40 and 10 metres on the Saturday and 40 and 20 yards on the Sunday, and in Molly’s case this was between 30 and 10 metres on the Saturday and 30 and 10 yards on the Sunday.
They are both members of Burnham Company of Archers who are based at the BASC ground.
Those interested in trying archery can contact the club via its website www.burnhamcompanyofarchers.co.uk and organise to come down and have a go under expert guidance in a friendly environment. Archery is a sport which can be enjoyed across all age groups.
