Keepin it realistic...

Des

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Just realised that Kirby Muxloe on Sunday was the first FITA Star i?ve done since Sept 2011. I scored 1182 that day at Bowmen of Glen, as did Ian Hannaford, a month after shooting my PB of 1258(9) at the British Target Champs. That?s starting to feel like quite a long time ago.

Kirby has been a lucky ground for me over the years. I shot my first 1000 FITA, my first 600 70m, and first 1200 FITA there. I also shot my previous PB of 1252 there in 2010, on the same day that Simon Terry broke the British record with 1360.

No records or milestones this time, but a good day none the less. The weather had been up and down all weekend and I knew it wouldn?t be ideal. Much like Meriden, Kirby can often be quite sheltered from the wind, especially if it?s coming from left to right across the field. Yesterday if anything the wind was blowing towards the targets, and slightly right. Rain had been expected but only a couple of slight showers turned up in the afternoon.

Shame that Meriden had moved their April FITA to the same weekend, and a lot of the other Northants guys had gone there.

Still alot of the same old faces. On target 2 with Tim Oliver, Steve Brunt and Viren Patel. Sighters were slightly high, which was nice. First scoring arrow went in the 5 right, followed it with a nice 10. The wind was just enough at time to make any slightly difficult shots even harder. No major howlers though, just a naff middle dozen with too many blacks. Dozens of 80 66 and 75 for 221.

Pleased with 70m. Pleased with how I shot more than the score. Some really solid ends which on a nicer day would have scored well. 92 94 and 90 for 276. My realistic goal for the day of 1100 was still doable.

I had enjoyed shooting 50m during the week. Tried to think about those decent practice ends, and shot it quite well. 96 100 and 90, 286.

30m started with two 7?s right, but got better after that. Starting to feel it a bit but managed to shoot decent ends, with loads of 9?s just outside the 10. 109 108 and a strong 114 finish for 1114. Turns out I won a distance award for 30m, probably unrewarded I should think.



I signed the score sheet with 1113, once again doing myself out of tournament points (point). I have no idea what the other recurve guys scores on the day. Tom Cram was on the next target, he was on top of the leader board for most of the day.

Overall i?m happy and enjoyed the day. Pleased with how I shot in the afternoon. I?m booked in to shoot in next weekends NCAS 1st Caswell shoot at Kettering, but nothing yet after that. The Caswell is also a sort of county team selection shoot for the Ivy Keating match against Bedfordshire towards the end of May. I think this year i?ll probably try and do the local shoots and county matches if picked.

Shot this morning after a rest yesterday. 10 arrow ends at 50m. 90 arrows in an hour. Pretty good for the first 40 arrows, struggled a bit after that but groups were still ok.

Loving the Uukha limbs!
 
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