Saturday 25 January 2014 - Day Two
8.00am – It’s early and Richard Parker, James and
Jeff should be on the line getting in their 4 sighter rounds. I am still asleep so miss most of their
arrows.
I only get a chance
to see Richard during the second half of the shoot. Seems fatigue and timing has hit the silver
fox (his own words). It’s
not going well.
10.00am – After nice hot bath and a filling
breakfast I am ready for my turn on the line.
Ceri is curious about how I will do (it’s her first time seeing me shoot arrows
and is rightly intrigued by the kit).
10.30am – 18 arrows on the practice range and my
kit is inspected by the judges. All is
good. Time to control my nerves for the
qualification round
A few 2020 members
pop over to wish me luck. I’m
now a nervous wreck.
12.00pm – Here goes nothing. I’ve got my bib and number attached to my
quiver and ready to take names and shoot arrows.
Boy I’ve got my anchor sorted!
I’m shooting next to Josh from Scotland and someone who is waaaay
too young to be left alone with a pointy stick (little did I know …). Josh takes up the paper
scoring duties and I get to play with the electronic scoring device. My first shot strangely feels natural and hits
the target. Maybe it’s all gonna be alright on the night ….?
28 arrows
in and I’m feeling pretty good. I haven’t missed yet. I’m on target to beating my PB and maybe beat Roger! I’ve got plenty of water and
chocs in my belt and nerves don’t seem to be an issue. I’ve got Ceri and Sarah
cheering me on. What else could does a
man need? Refocus, arrow 29 is ready to
fly.
I adopt
the freedom stance (my own name for my rather wide stance).
Arrow 29
is nocked and lined up.
I draw
back and take aim ….
MISS!!
I don’t believe it. My first
miss! Calm down and reset for arrow
30.
I adopt
the freedom stance again …
Arrow 30
is nocked and lined up…
I draw
back and take aim ….
HIT!
Phew. I can live with one miss. So I end 30 arrows with 245. That’s higher than I have ever
shot. With a bit of luck I might be able
to nudged 500!
5.30pm – 30 arrows later and it’s over. I don’t bother looking at my
final score. I know I missed 6
times. I haven’t performed as well as I had hoped. But that’s the reason I’m here. Where else will I
get the opportunity to learn what it’s really like on the world
archery stage? Today has shown me that
endurance also plays a key part in your performance. I need to be able to last more than 2 hours
and where necessary adapt my shooting when things go wrong. Lessons identified. Lessons learnt.
So it’s back to my room for a shower to relax and then drinks at the bar
in the Holiday Inn. The silver fox with
James and Jeff in tow turn up for a few drinks too. Eventually the whole gang is in the bar
chatting about the day’s events and archery. Somewhere in the conversation we learn that
Brady Elllison has been knocked out of the competition and ranks 5th
in the final scores. That’s a bit scary given he’s just set a new world
record with 593 in the qualification round.
But that’s not of importance
now. We’re all a bit dejected and down after realizing that not a single
2020 member shot within their abilities.
9.00pm – A quick trip back to the Interantional Centre through the cold
night leaves us in shock. The men’s recurve second chance shoot is tomorrow morning at 7.30am! OMG!
That’s the final smack in the
face. Someone has a rather dark sense of
humour in ArcherGB and Telford.
10.30pm – Well that’s an early night I
guess. See you all at 6am!
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