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BLUE Lake Archers managed to compete at both indoor and outdoor venues over the weekend, with excellent outdoor archery conditions Sunday.
Friday night the indoor range was the setting for a twin round of Australian Indoor 18-metre events.
Ian Harris was in fine touch throughout the night but had to stay at that peak to secure the victory in both rounds, winning by narrow margins.
Paul Freeman was testing new arrows and tuning his bow to suit, which is never a good option in a contest and he accepted his scores were inevitably lower than his normal level.
Graham Lock kept the pressure on Harris throughout the night, a pair of perfect 60-point ends helping to narrowly grab the best off-the-bow score.
Round 1 had a winning margin of a solitary point.
The second round opened the winning margin ever so slightly to two points between the pair.
Two winter Sunday’s with sunny weather and calm conditions on the trot had the archers happy to hit some luck with the weather for outdoor archery.
A beginners coaching session preceded Sunday’s afternoon event.
The round chosen for the day was a 90-arrow, 50-metre Melbourne round.
Ben Kilsby took full advantage of the conditions and was on a rampage through the score sheets.
His opening salvo of a pair of perfect 60-point ends had his opposition on the ropes from the start.
Harris had resorted to using older archery equipment but put in a relatively good day on the range until a loose sight sunk his off-the-bow scores.
Kilsby was easily able to gap the field, breaking his benchmark for the adjusted handicap score by three points as he cruised to the adjusted score win by 23 points.
Picking up the crumbs for the distant second place required a tie break, Len Bayley rueing the single wayward arrow score which allowed Lock to snatch second.
Indoor archery continues at Blue Lake Gymnastics Club, Malseed Park, Friday 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: Ian Harris 300 (off the bow 285); Graham Lock 299 (287); Paul Freeman 260 (248).
Australian Indoor 18 metre, Round 2, handicap scored, benchmark 300 points: Ian Harris 297 (off the bow 282); Graham Lock 295 (283); Paul Freeman 275 (263).
Melbourne outdoor round, handicap scored, benchmark 900 points: Ben Kilsby 903 (off the bow 877); Graham Lock 880 (824); Len Bayley 880 (695); Ian Harris 810 (699).
