"We came, we shot, we didn't sleep muchÖ"

Saturday 6th September saw three of SGB's usual (competitive) suspects gathering in Penicuik, for the inaugural SAA Premier Event - a double 70 metre round and following Olympic head to head round. Our own competitors, jetting in from Aberdeen and London, were not the only distant entrants, with several of the better known names on the UK circuit making an appearance, seeking to benefit from a further opportunity to gain valuable ranking scores.

Despite having arrived in Edinburgh on the Friday afternoon, for an unusually relaxed evening by their standards, our southern travellers found the temptations of Edinburgh's civilised licensing laws too tempting, and the early start the following morning was an unwelcome one. Others seemed to be more enthusiastic, however, and by the time that Paul and Ian reached the field at 8am (travelling with Edinburgh University's Glyn Ball and Matt Nowicki), many archers were already completely set up.

Following the 8am registration, the shoot commenced at 8.45am. The decision to limit practice to only two ends was clearly a surprise to some of the competitors, more used, perhaps, to the 45 minutes available at Premier events run earlier in the season further south. However, given the time of year, and fading light levels in the early evenings, the organiser's decision can perhaps be understood.

Links' Simon Needham led the Gents Recurve division from the start of the qualifying round on Saturday, quickly building a relatively strong lead, and ultimately qualifying first with a score of 667, later confirmed as being (subject to ratification) a new National Record for the round. Although not breaking any records, Ian and Paul also found good form over the first half of qualifying, although the second element was less successful. Ian qualified in 8th on 601, with Paul following at 15th on 550. Meanwhile, in the Ladies Recurve division, Mel completed her morning's shooting qualifying in 10th place.

The head to head knockout stage of the competition followed smoothly from the qualifying round, the organiser ably assisted by experienced Olympic round host Bob Tonkin. Paul and Ian both shot solid first passes to knock out their first round opponents, moving from the 1/32 eliminations stage to the 1/16.

The Ladies Recurve division moved directly to the 1/16 matches, owing to a lack of numbers, where Mel came up against Edinburgh University rival Claudine Jennings. Despite disappointment over her qualifying stage, the Edinburgh archer overcame initial nerves to put Mel out, and move to the Ladies quarter finals. As a result, Mel finished in 12th place.

On the gents' line, Paul came up against GB archer Alan Wills, and despite a solid pass, lost the match, finishing in 11th place. Team mate Ian shot poorly, losing to a strong pass from eventual winner David Gregson, and finishing in equal 12th place, tied with Edinburgh's Matt Nowicki. Gregson moved to the quarter finals against top seed Simon Needham, triumphing by only one point after a very close match, then continued to hold his winning form until the end of the day, defeating both Links' Mick Urbaniak and Audco's Chris Marsh to emerge eventual winner.

Sunday dawned equally bright, if not quite so early. Many competitors decided that the 8am registration was a little optimistic, and aimed for a more leisurely start to the day. Nevertheless, by 8.45am, all were assembled and ready to shoot (both!) ends of practice.

After a less solid start, but a more consistent round overall, Ian managed to qualify higher than he had on Saturday, rising two places to sixth, on a score of 607. Paul also increased his score from the day before, finishing on 553, although qualifying in the same place, at 15th. Mel again qualified tenth on the Ladies' line.

Determined to do better than the day before, our archers moved to the knockout stage of the event, as the wind began to pick up. Sadly, though, in a close match against Maurice Clarke, Paul shot some stray arrows to lose his 1/32 match by a two point margin, while Mel lost her match to Elayne McLean (who herself then lost to Lorna Provan by only one point at the quarter final stages). Ian came up against the same 1/32 opponent that he had faced on Saturday, and although shooting a lower score for the pass, still won the match, and moved on to the 1/16 round, coming up against Stan Seymour. After a close match, Ian passed through to the quarter finals by only three points, to meet DNAA's Stan Brownlee.

As the wind continued to rise, both archers shot low scores for their dozen arrow pass, with Ian's 90 points only just edging out Stan's 89 scored. By that narrowest of margins, Ian moved on to the semi-final stage, coming up against Alan Wills. Both archers shot good scores in the poor conditions, with the wind gusting strongly (blowing over scoreboards, on some ends), but after a poorly judged shot from Ian in the penultimate end of the match, it was the GB archer's experience that carried the day, by three points, winning 104 to 101.

As Wills moved on to the gold medal match, to face Simon Needham (retaining his top seeded place on the second day's qualification), Ian moved to the bronze match against Chris Marsh. Despite Ian's leading the match at an early stage, and enjoying the support of much of the crowd, it was Marsh's experience that carried the day, albeit by only a single point, leaving Ian to finish in fourth place, 97 to 96.

Although this was the first such Premier event to be hosted in Scotland, the event ran well, and was a credit to Norrie McLean's behind the scenes efforts. He has already indicated that the event will run again, replacing the Double FITA event that Penicuik Archers had previously run at this time of year, and it is to be hoped that more archers will support the newer format as it becomes a part of the Scottish archery calendar.

For full results click here.
 

SGB will shoot again at the WMAS FITA Star and Olympic round, to be held at Lilleshall, on the 27th and 28th of September.