Sussex Archers put in some very commendable performances at the Junior National Indoor Championships held at the National Sports Centre, Lilleshall in December 2009.

Maybe the most spectacular was 12 year old Bryony Pitman (Recurve, Worthing) who won her age group by a margin of nearly 50 points and beat two-thirds of all the girls shooting recurve bows, of all ages up to 18.

Thomas Hooper (Recurve, Bognor Regis) took the bronze medal in the under-18 age group just three points behind the two archers who shared first place.

Jamie Cole (13 years, Compound, Chichester) took a good second place in the under-14 Compound group, and barebow archers Vivienne Foord (13, Newhaven) and Dominic Bodle (12, Newhaven) both won their age-group.

Other Sussex archers at the Championships were Hayley Foord (13, Newhaven. Recurve), Stevie Kent (12, Friars Gate, Compound), and Cameron Temple (13, Ditchling, Compound).

Click this link to download the full results.

The results of the 2009 Sussex Championships held at Falmer High School on Sunday 30th August have been published:

• Winners
• Full results

Congratulations to the winners.

Details of the 2010 Sussex Championships and other tournaments in the County shooting calendar will be published soon.

Eastbourne Archers third junior Western shoot on Monday 31st August saw five new county records and an overall win for Rebecca Davis of Newhaven AC.

The full results can be downloaded here.

Following on from his success at the County Championships the previous day, Jamie Cole of West Sussex Youth Archers stepped up to claim another winner’s medal at the Guildford AC Acorn shoot on Monday 31st August.

Jamie’s impressive – although maybe that should be amazing – run of scores continued with 1240 in the Junior Gents Compound competition.  This was another outstanding performance by one of the County’s most talented young archers, following hard on the heels of his 1250 in the SCAS Junior Inter Counties Championships on 16th August (in which the Sussex Junior Compound team stormed to a runaway victory.  Full results on the Kent Archery website) and 1248 in the County Championships.

Jamie’s success was mirrored in the Gents Compound by Steve Allen of Horsham, who prevailed in a tight finish with Malcolm Rees from the host club to take first place by six points with a score of 1242.

Gemma Underwood’s score of 1063 proved enough to win the Ladies Recurve by a margin of more than 100 points from Joyce Denny of Spelthorne Archers.

Also among the medals at Guildford after shooting at the County Championships was Pip Tucknott of Ditchling AC, whose score of 1051 secured second place in the Junior Gents Recurve and his second medal of the Bank Holiday weekend.

Full results from the shoot can be found on the Guildford Archery Club website.

This year’s Sussex Junior shoot proved to be another success with a healthy entry list and fine weather throughout the day (at least until a short downpour shortly before the results were announced).

Congratulations to the Archers Supreme, Bryony Pitman of Worthing AC (Junior Ladies Recurve), Thomas Hooper of Bognor Regis AC (Junior Gents Recurve) and Jamie Cole of West Sussex Youth Archers (Junior Gents Compound).  The full results from the day can be downloaded using this link.

Thanks to the shoot’s founder and organiser, Doreen Cannon, Lady Paramount Hannah Temple and judge Roger McMullan.  Thanks also to the members of Ditchling AC, who hosted the tournament for the third consecutive year and provided a scrumptious selection of refreshments.

Next year’s shoot will be held one week later on Saturday 24th July 2010.  Doreen and her helpers look forward to seing everyone again then.

The results from the Double FITA 70 held at Falmer School on Sunday 12th July have been published:

• Winners
• Full results

Congratulations to the winners and thanks to everyone who supported the shoot.

The results from the Saturday free shoot can also be seen by clicking this link.

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!

Steve Hooper
Junior Team Manager

Lunchtime photograph of the Sussex contingent at JNOC 2009, Lilleshall.