I didn’t fancy any of the NFAS shoots that were organised for the first Sunday in August so I decided to give the Artemis EFAA shoot a go. It was another field round, the same as the previous two EFAA shoots at Artemis so I thought it would be good to see if my archery has improved this year.
My first attempt of the field round earlier this year resulted in a score of 234 (I shoot an AFB or LB as the IFAA call it). For those of you that have no idea what constitutes a good score for a field round, let me add some perspective. The World, European, and British records are 383, 370 and 380 respectively. As you can see, I was quite a bit short of a respectable score.
To make matters worse, the second time I shot the field round in June my score actually dropped. My second attempt yielded a score of only 198. To receive an A classification, a male AFB archer is require to score 250 or more on a field round. As you can see, I needed some improvement.
This time out I was determined to at least get past the A classification score of 250. Things started off well, I manage to put 3 scoring arrows on the first target and put two on the 80 yard target (albeit from 60 and 50 yards). This was better than my last outing at least and after 14 targets (out of 28) I had a score of 138. I wasn’t going to set any records but at least it was on track to get me over the 250 score I wanted.
Towards the end of the day, tiredness began to play a part. Lapses in concentration and form started to result in some pretty poor shots and my score started to suffer. At the end of the second 14 targets I’d dropped two points on the first round to give me a final score of 274. Not all that great but at least worthy of an A classification.
Whilst I didn’t set any records, a certain Mr Meeson that I shot the round with managed a massive score of 395. Those of you paying close attention will realise that score is good enough to take the World, European and English records. One day I hope to get somewhere near that, for now my next target is to break 300.