A SET of club-favourite rounds kept the Blue Lake Archers entertained last weekend.
A pair of Australian 18-metre indoor rounds Friday night and a 50-metre outdoor Melbourne event on Sunday afternoon ensured enjoyment for the regular competitors.
A smaller turnout for indoor archery did not mean decreased performance from the attending archers.
Ben Kilsby went all out in the initial round, hitting his pinnacle halfway through.
Ian Harris was gamely plugging away throughout the night with his oldest set of gear but was outrun by his fellow competitors.
At the centre of the target face used in the Australian Indoor 18-metre event is a 10-cent-piece sized X ring, which is counted as 10 points but recorded as an X on the scoresheets, used for tie breaks. Kilsby slammed an amazing 14 arrows in succession into the X ring including scoring a club first perfect 60-point effort with all six arrows in the X ring.
Kilsby equalled his club record score of 299 off the bow in the course of the event, leading home Paul Freeman by six points on adjusted scores.
Round two of the indoor also went Kilsby’s way, this time increasing his margin over Freeman to nine points.
One of the larger winning margins in some time was recorded at Sunday afternoon’s outdoor event.
Len Bayley was accompanied by Kilsby and Freeman on the outdoor range for the Melbourne round.
Reasonable conditions for archery kept the scores flowing throughout the afternoon, allowing Kilsby and Bayley to have all-gold ends recorded on their score sheets.
By the end of the day Bayley had demolished his benchmark in the adjusted scores to the tune of 33 points to take the win by an impressive 40 points over Freeman.
Thoughts of Bayley’s retiring from the sport appear to be a little premature.
Indoor archery continues tonight at the Blue Lake Gymnastics Club, Malseed Park at 7.30pm followed by outdoor archery at Corriedale Park at 12.30pm Sunday.
Australian Indoor 18 metre, Round 1, handicap scored, benchmark 300 points: Ben Kilsby 302 (299 = club record); Paul Freeman 296 (281); Ian Harris 282 (264).
Australian Indoor 18 metre, Round 2, handicap scored, benchmark 300 points: Ben Kilsby 299 (off the bow 297); Paul Freeman 290 (275); Ian Harris 274 (255).
Melbourne outdoor round, handicap scored, benchmark 900 points: Len Bayley 933 (off the bow 729); Paul Freeman 893 (816); Ben Kilsby 891 (867).
