FRIDAY night indoor archery produced some potent scores and a narrow point spread when the Blue Lake Archers assembled at Malseed Park and the high level of performance also flowed through to the Sunday outdoor round.
A standard pair of Australian indoor 18-metre rounds had Paul Freeman and Ben Kilsby vying for the best scores but the pair were shadowed by Ian Harris who was keen to be near the pointy end of the finishing order.
Round one had Freeman in fine form, keeping his score sheet clean of arrows outside of the gold coloured centre until the final end.
A small slip in form for one arrow was not enough to let Kilsby in, with Freeman clear by two points.
Harris rounded out the leading group also by two points from the runner-up position.
A slight dip in accuracy from some of the field and a step up from Kilby had the score line reversed for the winning position for round two.
A 298 from a possible 300 off the bow from Kilsby was enough to pull out a three-point margin between him and Freeman when the handicap adjustments were applied.
Another Sunday afternoon with near picture-prefect spring weather for outdoor archery had Freeman keen to continue his good form from Friday night.
A good turnout had the archers having to watch their spacing on the 50-metre shooting line, the generous lane width put to the test to accommodate the seven archers.
The line up included a beginner archer keen to test herself at a much longer range than she had been practicing at.
Freeman found his script for the day was playing out just as he hoped, taking the off-the-bow scores right up to Kilsby.
The slightly windy conditions did take a little off the accuracy but excellent scores were still recorded.
Harris pushed his credentials forward to keep pressure on the top spot in the adjusted scores but it was to no avail.
Freeman left his competition floundering in his wake, a winning adjusted margin of 24 points from Harris testament to his performance level on the day.
The 841 points off the bow recorded by Freeman was also a new personal best, rounding out a great weekend.
Indoor archery continues at Blue Lake Gymnastics Club, Malseed Park, Friday at 7.30pm followed by outdoor archery at Corriedale Park, 12.30pm on Sunday.
Australian Indoor 18 metre, round one, handicap scored, benchmark 300 points: Paul Freeman 298 (off the bow 285); Ben Kilsby 296 (295); Ian Harris 294 (278); Peter Donhardt 270 (231).
Australian Indoor 18 metre, round two, handicap scored, benchmark 300 points: Ben Kilsby 299 (off the bow 298); Paul Freeman 296 (283); Ian Harris 286 (270); Peter Donhardt 276 (237).
Melbourne outdoor round, handicap scored, benchmark 900 points: Paul Freeman 908 (off the bow 841 PB); Ian Harris 884 (777); Ben Kilsby 875 (849); Garry Jacques 747 (867); Graham Lock 853 (794); Peter Donhardt 691 (off the bow only).
