“A good archer is not known by his arrows, but his aim.” – English Proverb
It was the 21st May, 2016, and the archery community gathered from far and wide to compete at the Lake Macquarie Classic 2016.
Lake Macquarie Field Archers hosted this two day 3DAAA State Series event at their club grounds at Wakefield, NSW. The club grounds consist of 46 hectares of undulating, wooded archery terrain which form part of the Sugarloaf State Conservation Area, lying just to the West of Lake Macquarie.
This year’s Indian Summer weather held out to present near perfect conditions for the weekend: a little overcast cloud early on the Saturday clearing to crystal clear blue skies on the Sunday, with mid 20 degree temperatures and hardly a breath of wind throughout.
The weeks leading up to the event saw a small but dedicated team working tirelessly to prepare five of the most challenging of ranges, led by our mentor and grand master, Simeon “Simo” Weir. Simo insists that he’s not a mean person, but the glint in his eye when anyone mentions the less than kindly placement of the turkey way out there in the darkest of black tunnels on range C may suggest otherwise. I think that all attendees at the event will agree that we must express a huge debt of gratitude to Simo for creating a set of top class ranges that tested us all, both mentally and physically.
- Only 2 points split the 1st and 2nd in the MBO division, with Geoff Champman on 475 just edging out Matt McDougall on 473.
- Jenette Harvey took out first place in FBO, ahead of Jo Moffitt and Nicola Alam.
- Other hard fought results included Luke Collins and Lachlan Scott who were tied on 463 in Hunter class and couldn’t be separated on count back. 1st place finally went to Luke Collins, decided by shoot out.
- Another countback decision for 1st place in Recurve Unaided went to Karl Peck after he tied with Paul Lovelock at the end of the second day.
- A sighted top 10 shoot out on the Saturday afternoon saw honours going to Grant Elsley
- Despite Simo’s best endeavours there were a handful of perfect 100 rounds scored, including two to Matt Bradshaw, one to Alyssa Mollema and one to Lake Mac member, Jason Sutton.
Overall, 148 archers registered to shoot which was a pleasing turnout, on par with attendance at last year’s event.
There was a large contingent of campers enjoying the hospitality of the Lake Macquarie club, who were all kept well fuelled by Sharyn Dick and her tireless team of helpers in the canteen.
“In archery we have something like the way of the superior man. When the archer misses the centre of the target, he turns round and seeks for the cause of his failure in himself.” – Confucius
“photos courtesy of Spellbound Photography (Donna Gilroy).”