Saturday saw the Back2Back event run alongside the Junior National Indoors, where Becky Martin shot a 588 to take the girl’s recurve title. Bradley Denney was one point ahead with a 589 to take boy’s recurve, and he also took the Section 3 trophy as well as the overall top spot as he’s still in the under-16 class – the under-18 boy’s recurve award went to Patrick Huston. Jon Bull took boy’s compound, with Sophie Brown picking up the girl’s compound award. In the longbow category, Isabel Henry scored a 291 and Peter Holyland a 195 to win their respective divisions, while Alice Hudson and Ciaran Lunt topped the barebow score tables.
Across the hall, Back2Back was getting off to a flying start, with Duncan Busby gaining the maximum ten points out of his group in the first round. Danielle Brown, Lucy Holderness and Rikki Bingham all got the maximum ten points from their groups in women’s compound, while Luis Felipe, Alan Wills and Michael Judd did the same in men’s recurve. Naomi Folkard, Antje Frotscher and Jeanetta Braun also won all five matches in women’s recurve.
The second round saw the exit of Duncan Busby, despite him having the highest overall score in that group, as Philip Glover and Adam Ravenscroft pipped him on set points. Jordon Mitchell and Liam Grimwood finished top of the other group, putting them through to the semi-finals. Adam Ravenscroft got through t
o the gold medal final after a confident 7-1 victory over Liam Grimwood, while Philip Glover stole a march on Jordon Mitchell, winning the shoot-off to get through after a 5-5 draw. Liam Grimwood took on Jordon Mitchell for the bronze, and came back from 5-3 down to 5-all in the last set, and made the last
arrow count to take the medal 6-5. Adam Ravenscroft took
a 4-2 lead over Phil Glover
in the gold medal match,
but Phil won the next set and they drew the fifth to tie at 5-5. As both scored perfect 10s, it went to another single arrow, but this time, Adam had it.
Andrea Gales and Naomi Jones led their groups on set points in the second round, with Danielle Brown and Rikki Bingham following close behind to get through to the semis. Andrea Gales took on Rikki Bingham in the first semi-final, and took an early 4-0 lead. Rikki pulled it back to 5-3 with a win and a draw in the next sets, but Andrea took the last two points to go through to the gold medal match 7-3.
Danielle Brown and Naomi Jones were 3-3 after three sets in the other semi-final, but Naomi pulled ahead to win the last two. In the bronze medal match, Rikki Bingham
took the first two sets off Danielle Brown, and despite Danielle drawing level in the next two sets, Rikki could claim the two points needed to reach six set points and the medal. Naomi Jones had clearly found her stride by the time it reached the gold medal final, as although
Andrea Gales took a point in the first match, Naomi won the next three to coast to a 7-1 victory, and her second gold at this style
of tournament this year. Alan Wills again came out on top in the second group round with nine out of ten points, and Luis Felipe followed him through with six set points. From the other group, Michael Judd and Sean Evans tied on eight set points each to reach the semi-final round. Alan Wills and Michael Judd fought a close match to claim one of the spots in the final, drawing the first two matches then winning one apiece to make it 4-4 going into the final match. Alan had it though, and went through 6-4. Luis Felipe started strongly against Sean Evans, winning the first two matches, and despite drawing the third, Sean couldn’t match
Felipe and he conceded the match 7-1.
In the bronze medal match, Michael Judd came from 4-0 down to win the final three sets, and snatch the victory. Alan Wills and Luis
Felipe drew three out of their five sets, and level at 5-5 at the finish, it went to a shoot-off. Both were a 10, but Luis Felipe’s was closer to the centre.
Naomi Folkard completed the second group stages with another clean sweep of points, with Antje Frotscher, Jeanetta Braun and Abbie Fisher joining her in the top four. Naomi Folkard took an early 4-0 lead over Abbie Fisher in one semi-final, but Abbie pulled it back to 4-4 by winning the next two sets. They tied the final set to make it 5-5, but it was Naomi who won the shoot- off to progress to the gold medal final. It was about as close in the other semi, as Antje Frotscher and Jeanetta Braun tied the first three sets. Jeanetta won the fourth, and they were again level in the fifth, giving Jeanetta Braun a 6-4 victory.
Abbie Fisher and Antje Frotscher were well-matched in the bronze medal contest, going into the final set 4-4. Abbie Fisher won the last set though, claiming the medal. It wasn’t such a close affair in the gold medal match however, as Naomi Folkard took a straight-set 6-0 win over Jeaneta Braun.
Naomi Folkard couldn’t quite make it back to back wins over the weekend – but Becky Martin could, as she took the Senior National Indoor title alongside the Junior one she’d won the day before. In a final shoot-off against Naomi Folkard, she managed to make
it count, and pulled off a spectacular double victory. Margaux Mesle beat Caz Harwood into third place, making it the second year in a row she has finished fourth – showing some remarkable consistency.
In the gent’s recurve division, Stuart Barby became Senior Indoor Champion, beating Patrick Huston 6-4 in the final, making it an improvement of two places on his result last year. Gavin Sutherland came through the rounds to take third place honours, leaving National Junior Champion Bradley Denney in fourth.
Rikki Bingham took the top place in women’s compound, beating Paralympic champion Danielle Brown 6-2 in the final. Naomi Jones, despite being the highest qualifier, was edged
out in a shoot-off in the semi-final, and lost another shoot-off for the bronze medal, which was claimed by Nichola Simpson.
Adam Ravescroft was another double winner this weekend, as he added the Senior National Indoors gent’s compound title to his Back2Back win, beating James Bingham in the final with a score of 7-1. Jordon Mitchell came in third, beating Jonas Serna to the spot 6-4.
After qualifying way ahead of the longbow field with a score of 273, Amanda Slack had no trouble in her match rounds, winning 6-0 then 6-2 to claim the gold. Julie Cousins followed up a second place qualifying with second in the match rounds too, with Katy Campbell placing third.
Steve Gamble did likewise in the gent’s longbow class, with a first-place qualifying score to match a first-place overall finish. Richard Hutchins came in second, with Lee Ankers beating Jon Morrice to third.
There was some great shooting over both days, with juniors beating competitors in age groups above their own, and club archers from across the country giving each other a serious run for their money. The weekend was reported to have attracted over 900 people, making it one of the biggest dates on the archery calendar. Events like this are a great showcase for the sport, as archers of any level can go head-to-head with an Olympian – and with the new head-to-head formats of the later rounds, it’s anybody’s game.