On Friday 3rd November David Spinner and Ian McGibbon ventured north of the border to Edinburgh, to compete in the SAA Premier Event in Penicuik.
After a comfortable vodka and Irn Bru fuelled plane ride the pair met up with friends in Edinburgh and found a place to stay. Saturday morning saw strong winds blowing across the field, but having competed in a far windier Norwich the weekend before, this did not put off the intrepid duo.  From the start David was with the pacesetters, eventually qualifying for the head to head elimination stage in third.

Ian was also keeping the locals on their toes, qualifying well despite the conditions. Unfortunately, in the elimination stage, Ian did less well, being ignominiously put out by a much lower seeded local archer.  David, however, progressed to the bronze medal match.  Despite his supporters not being rowdy enough for his liking, he drew the match, taking it to a single arrow shoot off.  Sadly, it was not to be and he was pipped by a point. He was, however, jokingly offered Scottish squad training on the basis that he had been drinking in Edinburgh with the university club, so was Scottish enough to train with the national squad.

Sunday started groggily, due to the delights of Edinburgh's very civilised licensing hours, and resulted in some occasionally erratic shooting despite the almost perfect weather.  David personified this with 7, X, X, 10, X, 10 for his second end in qualifying. However, this used all his strength and he slipped down the field to qualify in 8th. Ian fared better, keen to improve on the previous day, and qualified in 7th. In the elimination stage, both London archers progressed to the quarter finals, despite offers of supportive donations of dried fruit from fellow competitors. David was then given a thorough beating by ex-London Archer Bjorn Alsmark, who went on to win the event, as he had done on the Saturday. Ian was narrowly beaten by a rival from York University, who went on to take bronze.