Mackenzie Geyton, Author at Northampton Archery Club

Junior triumphs.

Well here he is again, our young Harley, this time sensibly dressed and collecting a trophy after a county shoot. Several of our juniors are doing extremely well in competitions and there are more of them who hold records of some type. If you have any photo’s similar to this one I will be very happy the place it on our webpages for the rest of us to see.

On the left is the new county chairman, Glen Taylor who is also a coach, and of course Tim Bull who is also a coach and has just completed the county coaching course where 7 of our junior member attended and the reports were they did extremely well and the course was a great success. So a big thank you to Tim and his team.

When I asked for permission to show this picture on our website both Glen and Tim tried to bride me by as they wanted me to Photoshop in some good six packs. Sorry fellas, thanks for the cash but you can’t buy a miracle!!

The NAC’s Silly Boys

Those who took part in the end of season shoot at JAshby, may have spotted this endangered species.

This is how to enter the spirit of things and give everyone a good laugh in the process.

Well done both of you and thanks for brightening up the day for us all.Not a bad archer either!!

We’re Outdoors Again – and a great indoor season we had too.

The indoor season shooting at Moulton College is now over, and it seems to have flown so quickly. 2014-15 was probably one of the most successful winter season’s NAC has ever had, with the John Ashby Sports Hall regularly near to it’s full capacity of archers. All of our competitions have been well attended, and the Robin and Marian end-of-season fun shoot held on 28th March, a Portsmouth round with a twist, resulted in a team of three of our juniors and just one senior (Alan a Dale’s Dudes), beating our most experienced and veteran (if we dare use the term) shooters. Well done – Bailey, Lizzie, Hazel and Heather – don’t eat your Easter Egg trophies too quickly. The outdoor season starts at noon on Saturday 4th April at Sywell Range, Kettering Road. However shooting on Tuesdays will continue at Carlsberg Sports and Social Club until the lighter evenings arrive. The first outdoor Tuesday session will be on 5th May 2015.

Indoor Open Competition at JAshby.

Sunday the 22nd March 2015 was the date of our Indoor Open Archery Competition held at John Ashby in Moulton College.

The competition was well attended by other clubs but because the County Coaches were running Junior Coaching sessions on the same day it meant that our Juniors were denied the opportunity to attend this year.

Pictures of this event can be found and viewed within our “members” pages of the website and is password protected I will send out the link as soon as I can.

The day went off without any issues which is testament to the planing and execution from out Events Team whom we all know, David Major, Paul Hyde and Neville de Sousa. Of course there were also many helper especially those who turned up late on Saturday afternoon to ensure that the court was set out and looking professional and of course those who attended on the day in the many roles to ensure the day ran smoothly. Let us not forget our own David Stephens who although was suffering a chest infection was still able to Judge the event with a little help from our Susan Corless.

Finally a big thank you to our hosts from Moulton College.

Thirteen Archers Represent NAC at Indoor County Championships and Five Come Away with Trophies.

No less than thirteen members of NAC shot at the Indoor County Championships held at Rothwell on the 8th March and five became trophy holders. James Mason (compound), Ian Hyde (longbow), Lizzie Cantopher (recurve), Susan Corless (compound) and Harley Warner (Junior recurve) are all county champions for Northamptonshire and are to be congratulated on a great performance on the day. Paul Bond (Recurve), Ian Hannaford (Recurve), Paul Hyde (Longbow), Christine Gibson (Recurve) and Heather Major (Barebow) meanwhile all came away with medals, whilst Mick Lovell (recurve), Steve Gibson (recurve) and Lizzie Lovell (junior recurve) achieved very respectable scores. What a great day for NAC – well done.

A member of the NAC to Represent GB!

A member of the NAC; Susan Corless will be travelling to Slovenia in a day or two to to represent Great Britain.Just how many local clubs can boast something like that!!

Not all members will know Susan Corless especially as we have had so many “new starts”over the recent months. Nevertheless Susan started her archery career with the NAC around 3 years ago when she attended a beginners course at our Sywell venue.

Susan showed promise very soon after she held a recurve bow and before too long was soon hitting high numbers at club sessions and breaking club records and taking gold medals within our NAC competitions and doing the same when attending other clubs in the area.

Before long records were being broken regularly and her enthusiasm and training routine was such that would put many to shame. All of this was being achieved even though Susan had in her early years suffered a serious injury to her back for which she has suffered pain constantly ever since. It was because of the injury that Susan found it difficult to pull higher poundage bows to compete at greater distances in outdoor events.

Eventually Susan put down her recurve bow and only recently picked up a Compound Bow, yes she had gone to the dark side!!…………….Being a perfectionist she was coached very quickly to a point where she once again was breaking club records and eventually county records.

Recently,only a few weeks ago, it has been confirmed that she has been chosen to represent Great Britain when they shoot in the European Indoor Archery Championships in Slovenia. The event begins on 24th February with the finals on 28th February. The event website is here http://www.eaickoper2015.si/. (link may not work so you will need to copy and paste into your browser)
There are 6 archers from GB in the team and this will be her first international event of her short archery career to date.
Susan is very competitive and is very serious about her archery. She trains regularly along with some of our other good archers and she deserved this opportunity as she has worked hard for it. I hope you can join me in wishing Susan all the luck in the world and hope she comes back with a good story to tell us all. Susan, all the best. IanP NAC Secretary.