Stortford Archery Club wins a record haul of 26 medals in the Hertfordshire Archery Association winter leagues to take them top of the medal table for the County.
Club Secretary & Records Officer Stuart Barber praised the recent successes and said it shows a depth of talent in the club, which will put the club in good stead for the future.
2 Leagues are competed for over the winter, an indoor "Portsmouth" round where 60 arrows are shot in doors at a 60cm target at 20 yards, and an outdoor "Frostbite" round which is 36 arrows at an 80cm target at a distance of 30 meters. The frostbite round is shot regardless of the weather hence its name.
In the Portsmouth League
In the Compound bow class, Stuart Barber & Rachel Boynton both won the silver medal for the team event with Rachel taking the Ladies' gold and Stuart the Men's silver in the Compound class. Stuart was ranked 2nd overall and Rachel 6th (1st Lady) out of 27 Archers.
There were 114 archers competing in the Recurve bow class. Numbers in () are overall finishing positions from 144 archers.
In League 1, in the Recurve bow style, Jeremy Godfrey (3), Nigel Boardman (6), Darren Mascal (26), Stephen Edwards (28), and Mark Coles (29) picked up the team bronze medal with Jeremy collecting the individual bronze too.
In League 2, Rebecca Bourne (30th overall / 4th Lady ), Craig Murray (34), Peter Sweetman (35), James D'Sylva (45), and Maurizio Miccolis (52) came away with the League 2 Bronze team medal too.
There were 40 Junior archers competing and the Stortford Junior team came 3rd and bagged the Bronze medals. The Junior Ladies top three slots also went to Stortford juniors with Sophia (2) collecting a gold for being the top junior lady archer, Emily Young collecting the silver medal and Lily-May Cox (compound bow) collecting the bronze medals.
In the Frostbite League
Compound bow
In the Compound bow class, Stuart Barber (2) and Rachel Boynton (4/1) again took the silver in the team event with Stuart picking up the Individual Men's silver and Rachel the Individual Ladies' gold. Stuart only dropped 35 points off the maximum score over the duration of the league with a score of 1765 out of 1800. A super achievement.
In the Recurve bow style
The team were narrowly beaten into 4th place position but Rebecca Bourne, who only started shooting in September, picked up an individual silver medal for second highest lady. An amazing feat.
Overall a super result for the club.