The morning heat was almost unbearable, then came the downpour that almost obscured the targets; wind on our backs would suddenly shift to the left and then to the right… This was Lilleshall, as unpredictable as ever.

Whilst this was not a county-team event Sussex was well represented at this year’s Junior National Outdoor Championships by no less than fifteen juniors from at least eight clubs and all were archers to be proud of.

Some came for the whole weekend, others for one day but all put their heart and soul into their archery. A few were on their first major event, and the national champs is definitely a major event, others are more seasoned with, for example, Thomas Hooper wearing an England shirt for the second time.

The day saw personal battles and real competition between archers… Sam Randall making a fantastic and exciting bid to win his Bristol IV category and making his dad, Andy, a nervous wreck in the process. The win was almost in the bag and Sam came a very, very close second place. Well done Sam!

Silverware went to Kyle Scudder for winning the Metric IV Junior gents compound on Saturday and the Bristol IV Junior gents compound, beating his nearest rival by 216 points.

Rebecca Davis and Vivienne Foord traded places over the weekend, each taking a first and second place and more shiney stuff back to Newhaven

Teams were compiled from top scorers in each county and Sussex came 5th out of 23 in the combined recurve category… well done!

And as if shooting a 12 dozen round under the pressure of tournament conditions was not enough many juniors joined in on The Macarena and YMCA during lunch… You tube links below:

JNOC 2009 Macarena on You Tube

JNOC 2009 video montage on You Tube

Finally, and we can’t close without this… Newhaven’s Dominic Bodle shone-out in the barebow category claiming not one, but two national records in the Metric III, fantastic and a great example of what making the step to large events can mean!