On Sunday 5th May, eight archers from Sway Bowmen travelled to Bishops Waltham to take part in Merdon Bowmen’s annual shoot: The Merdon Arrow.
The day started out sunny and warm – Spring had finally arrived! During lunchtime, some clouds scurried by, dropping the temperature, but by the time shooting resumed for the afternoon, the clouds had vanished and the sun was once again shining down on the archery field.
The shoot is a friendly one, the round being shot a FITA 50 consisting of 6 dozen arrows shot at 50m on an 80cm target face. The main award for the shoot is “Captain of the Arrow” – decided by the first person to get an arrow wholly within a small diameter target in the centre. The second person to achieve this is awarded “Lieutenant of the Arrow”.
Shooting in the Gents Compound category, Sway had Bryan Golden who took home the “Lieutenant of the Arrow” award, scoring 621.
Shooting in the Gents Longbow category and scoring 231, Adrian Jones took Gold.
Shooting in the Ladies Longbow category and scoring 129, Sandie Baigent also took Gold.
Shooting in the Gents Recurve category were: Steve Humphrey – 531; Trevor Chalk – 483; Howard Jasper – 426; Richard Organ – 303; Adam Hackett – 237.