Two Burnham-On-Sea youngsters have taken part in the Archery GB Junior National Outdoor Championships this month.
Darragh and Molly Joyce competed at the championships, held near Telford, on July 2nd and 3rd.
Darragh was competing in the U18 recurve category, which is the Olympic discipline, while Molly took part in the U16 Longbow category.
Saturday was the Metric competition with all the target distances in metres where Darragh had to shoot 36 arrows at four distances: 70m, 60m, 50m and 30m, while Molly had to shoot at 50m, 40m, 30m and 20m.
In a field that contained most of the top U18 shooters in the country, and with 1440 points to play for, Darragh placed third, only 11 points off 2nd, and 13 points off 1st.
Molly, after a slow start, placed 1st in her category, taking the U16 Ladies Longbow National Metric Star title!
Sunday was the imperial competition with all the target distances in yards. In these rounds, half of the arrows (72) are shot at the longest distance, which for Darragh was 80 yards, and Molly was 50 yards. At the top level the competition is normally settled at this point, as the top shooter drops very few points as the distances become shorter.
Sadly, after the longest distance, Darragh found himself in 4th place, and despite outscoring those above him with his last 72 arrows, he couldn’t quite close the gap enough to get back on the podium. Yet again Molly found herself on the top step, taking the U16 ladies national longbow title!
Both Darragh and Molly are students at The King Alfred School, and are members of Burnham Company of Archers based at the BASC Ground. If you are interested at trying archery, contact the club at secretary@burnhamcompanyofarch
