Following on from the close internal competition at the Osterley York Rose, the Northern Area FITA Thistle & Rose/Championships promised to be a hard fought contest; and so while Mel waited in the relative tranquillity of Portlethen, the diminished southern contingent made their way to Stansted Airport for the short flight north.

On this occasion, the team were accompanied by some of the Imperial College club, as well as one of UCL's finest (Ed - She claims {possibly accurately} that she is in fact UCL's very finest). While our man in Ipswich was able to leave work at an almost sensible time, the London contingent (Ian, Leo, Tim and Veronica) passed a less pleasant afternoon in the extensive traffic jams towards the airport. Tim once again revealed hidden talents, moving easily from DJ-ing to life as a demon navigator.

Despite the worst of the London traffic, a slightly rushed and stressed team made it to the departure lounge in time; to be confronted by the sight of a relaxed Andy eating an ice cream! As usual, archery equipment as luggage caused a few minor headaches for the airport staff, and it emerged on landing in Scotland that the baggage handlers had been less than gentle with Leo's newly acquired compound case - having split open the bottom corner of the case, along the hinge line. Thankfully, her equipment had escaped any damage, despite the mangled case. After some careful packing - who said a Rover 45 couldn't handle five archers with full kit? - and a rapid drive north (aren't hire cars wonderful?) a weary team finally made it to Hotel de Sullivan.

Saturday started with overcast skies and light breezes; many decided that waterproof gear was inevitably going to be required and put it on straight away as a precautionary measure. In addition to the large number of familiar faces on the shooting line, the tournament officials had a more familiar air than usual, with SGB's John Sullivan formally revealing his candidature as a Judge.

Despite a promising start, the day's shooting was complicated by light rain (or drizzle, if those accustomed to Scottish weather were to be believed) and occasionally tricky wind. Andy also discovered that his fears concerning potential damage to his string were well founded, and spent much of the day struggling with that and other equipment gripes - our tuning maestro finished the day well down on average, but with a list of equipment 'fixes' to carry out. Ian shot to form at 90 metres, but was let down by poor shooting at 70 and 50 metres; unfortunately, a mediocre 30 metres rounded off a below average score, although several instructive comments from his target companions led to a gradual improvement as the day moved to a close.

The 'guests' fared better, with Tim discovering the joys of arrows matched to the bow; his correctly spined carbons, bought only the day before and fletched in haste on John & Mel's games table late on Friday night, proving much more accurate than his previous club aluminium shafts. Leo also shot well, carrying a strong morning performance through to achieve a new personal best of 1213, claiming her 1200 (Compound) Thistle. The novelty of the FITA round didn't prevent Veronica enjoying this, her first such competition. With the benefit of newly acquired sightmarks, future scores should show a marked improvement.

As ever, when in Aberdeen, the post-shoot celebrations (and inevitable post-mortem) ended up in the pub - with the added incentive of celebrating RGU's Jo Bathgate's birthday, and getting some free food, it was inevitable that beer would be consumed. The usual good natured abuse was amply enhanced by the almost nostalgic presence of Bob Kerr, formerly of St Andrews and Strathclyde Universities, and currently shooting for Shetland. With the stated aim of getting Master Kerr used to life as a Shetland archer (i.e. hammered the night before major championships, and indeed at every opportunity), his team mates Billy Finnie and Keith Lobban happily led the way to the bar

With the added bonus of better weather, the more leisurely start on Sunday led to a relaxed and enjoyable morning for most, with Ian and Leo both shooting solid scores at their respective longest distances. Andy again struggled with equipment difficulties, but gradually improved through the distance.

By lunchtime, much to his disbelief, it emerged that Ian was leading a good many of the Northern Area gents, although only by a narrow margin in some cases. With the very real prospect of a medal finish, the opening shots of the afternoon were marred by the increased tension, and an inaccurate sightmark. To make matters worse, Ian discovered half way through the distance that his sight was slowly vibrating itself loose, and it appeared that his fragile lead had not been sufficient, with both Billy Finnie and James Laing from Lethen leading into the final distance. However, with an extremely nervous, but relatively solid last two dozen arrows, Ian managed to pull ahead of both, finishing only one point ahead of Billy, and six ahead of James. With a score of 991, and despite only having 143 hits (yes, he missed, through a minor argument with the clicker at 100 yards), Ian claimed the gents recurve trophy - SGB's first major individual success!

Despite his earlier equipment problems, Andy managed to put in a strong performance over the closing dozens, and although down on his usual performance, he managed to fend off competition from former Captain, Bob Kerr. Honour was accordingly satisfied! At the same time, Mel shot equally solidly to put in her first score over 800, and claiming a Rose award. Tim and Veronica both put in creditable scores for their first appearances in Northern Area (and Tim's first ever York round!) with Veronica claiming the first class medal. Although Leo emerged less cheerful at the end of the days shooting, she did go on to replace the cams on her bow, muttering about more speed.

A good weekend was had by all, and Mel's performance in particular is commendable, in this, her first real outdoor season - we look forward to top scores in future! In addition, having spent a large portion of the weekend in the company of Shetland archers, we wish them (and their female team member, our very own Morag Hughson, an Unst lass born and bred!) all the very best in defending their title in the Inter-Island Games, to be held at the end of this month on the Isle of Man.

Some of SGB will be at the 2001 BUSA Outdoor Championships at Lilleshall, on Saturday 23rd June, and the team will again compete at Banchory on 14th July