AFTER a series of outdoor archery rounds being deferred to indoor rounds over recent weeks, the first weekend of winter was ironically dry and relatively warm allowing Blue Lake Archers to set their sights on the more distant targets of their outdoor range.
The traditional Friday night indoor was conducted as usual and consisted of a twin round of Australian 18 metre.
A smaller group on the line allowed all archers to shoot at the same time while still running to the electronic timing system.
Paul Freeman took the win in the initial round, his final score landing exactly on his benchmark and shading Garry Jacques by a narrow three points.
Backing up for the second round, Dale Tschirpig climbed to the top of the list, the bare bow compound archer spoiling Jacques’s night again by scoring a single point more to leave Jacques stranded in the runner-up position.
Seth Delaney received news from Archery SA that he was successful in his application to be involved in the teams event as part of the National and State Indoor Archery Championships.
He will be part of the Youth Compound Indoor State Team shooting in the Under 14 class.
Unseasonal warm weather in early winter is nothing to sneeze about and the club members relished the chance to conduct an outdoor event Sunday afternoon.
The Corriedale Park range was set up for several skill levels and the score sheets featured a three-distance Short Canberra and a pair of single-distance events, a Geelong and a Newcastle round.
There were plenty of archers on the range but several elected to have a practice day.
The majority of those registering into the competition rounds had yet to gain a handicap rating for outdoor, leaving the door open for the established archers to rule the roost. Freeman made it a pair of wins for the weekend, his score again smack on the benchmark leaving a 13-point margin back to runner-up Jeff Puckridge.
Indoor archery at the Blue Lake Gymnastics Club, Malseed Park, Friday at 7pm, followed by outdoor archery at Corriedale Park from 12.30pm Sunday.
Australian Indoor 18 metre, Round 1, handicap scored, benchmark 300 points: Paul Freeman 300 (off the bow 288); Garry Jacques 297 (256); Jeff Puckridge 288 (281); Dale Tschirpig 287 (190); Tamika Mullan 255 (238); Fiona Allison 244 (153).
Australian Indoor 18 metre, Round 2, handicap scored, benchmark 300 points: Dale Tschirpig 294 (off the bow 197); Garry Jacques 293 (252); Paul Freeman 292 (280); Jeff Puckridge 286 (86); Fiona Allison 191 (282).
Outdoor rounds, handicap scored, benchmark 900 points: Paul Freeman, Short Canberra, 901 (off the bow 854); Jeff Puckridge, Short Canberra, 888 (853); Fiona Allison, Short Canberra 872 (594); Blade Delaney, Newcastle, 840 (off the bow only); Alex McDonnell, Geelong, 822 (off the bow only); Allan Oschar 818, Newcastle, (off the bow only); Callum Oschar, Newcastle, 581 (off the bow only).
