County of London 53rd Annual Outdoor Championships

August 31st 2003 - For a pdf of the results please click here.

Personal bests and records tumble at Norfolk FITA

August 23rd - 25th 2003

London Archers produced a large turnout for the Norfolk Double FITA star and head to head in August. The contenders seeking glory were Bjorn, Cecile, David Spinner (as opposed to ’the other David Wilson’), Ian McGibbon, Rosie, Ben, Veronica, Leo and Mati. It was always going to be an interesting affair with compound bad boys Bjorn and David going head to head for the first time.

The weather on Saturday morning was near perfect (i.e. raining, but it cleared up nicely). The competition started well with Bjorn in second and David in third after 90m on the first day, lying behind Chris White who had needed to shoot a British record to fend off the London Challenge. In the process David shot a personal best of 323.

At the end of Sunday, the placings had rearranged somewhat, but Bjorn came away with the silver medal having shot 1360 and 1353 and setting a Swedish national record for the double FITA in the process. David was back in 6th, having shot a personal best for a double FITA and achieving personal bests at 90m and 30m. Not wanting to be outdone by Bjorn, Cecile (shooting her first competition with a compound) also (we believe) broke the Ladies Swedish national record for the double FITA. Veronica also smashed her personal best with 1138 for a single FITA and 2235 for the double finishing 10th. Ian was just edged out of the top 10 by one point.

Rosie and Ben, shooting in their first double FITA did very well, both achieving the aims they had set themselves.

Monday was the 70m round and head to head. The wind made things a little tricky but it didn’t impede our archers too much. 3 nights of camping, combined with a night with auntie Stella (Ian) however had started to take its toll and all were a little stiff.

Again Bjorn put in a fine performance and was seeded first after qualifying with David down in 11th. Ian qualified 6th in the Gents recurve, breaking the SGB record. All the ladies qualified in the top 16 as well.

The first head to head involved Ben, shooting off for a place in the 1/32nd round and a chance to shoot against the top seed. Although competing in his first head to head, he held his nerve and vanquished his opponent. Sadly, he then received a thorough spanking from Neil Bridgewater, the no.1 seed and eventual winner of the head to head round. Cecile qualified in 16th and had to shoot shoot-off for a place in the 1/8 elimination round. She comprehensively beat her opponent 137-111 to go through and compete against the top seed, narrowly losing this match.

Ian, David and Bjorn all passed through their first round matches with ease, as did Veronica and Leo. The gusty wind in the next round caused some interesting results however. Ian went out in a closely contested match, as did David, though both were highest scoring losers and had scores that would have won in other matches. Incidentally, they also both lost to the eventual bronze medallists. Veronica was also knocked out in her second round by the eventual bronze medallist. Leo was somewhat assisted in her match by her opponent shooting 3 arrows into the wrong target, putting her in the semi-final. Unfortunately she was unable to maintain her form, finishing fourth.

This left all hopes with Bjorn, and he didn’t disappoint. He dished out a generous helping of whupass to progress to the final, even berating his supporters at one point, who thought he had shot an uncharacteristic 8, saying “don’t be silly, that’s in the red!” In the final, he decided to spice things up a little more by tying 112-112. However, Bjorn demonstrated his class, winning the single arrow shoot-off 10-3.