A TRIO of Evesham Archery Club members achieved impressive results at the UK Masters tournament at Lilleshall.
Evesham had three competitors, lady recurve archers Sally Gilder and Amaryllis Barton and lady compound archer Jacquie Holmes.
The two-day event began in wonderful conditions on Saturday with the qualification round. Both Gilder and Holmes qualified fourth in their categories and all three Evesham archers gained a bye for the later head-to-head round, putting them straight through to the last 16.
Barton shot well but was knocked out as she won three rounds to Tania Nadarajah’s seven.
Gilder managed to equal her rival in their head-to-head, meaning a one-arrow shoot-off was required in which whoever is closest to the centre of the target wins.
It was close but Gilder was knocked out after shooting an eight to Rachel Vines’ nine.
Holmes shot a close head-to-head against Abbie Spinks but managed to pull ahead in the last two ends, resulting in Holmes going through to the quarter-finals.
In the last eight, Holmes’ opponent Daisy Clark took an early lead and Holmes could not recover as she exited the competition.
Day two brought tricky conditions as blustery wind and the odd shower arrived but, despite this, Barton managed to shoot a personal best.
Gilder finished eighth overall and Barton 14th in the ladies’ recurve, whilst Holmes finished 12th in the ladies’ compound.
ELSEWHERE, Evesham Archery Club junior Harriet Fletcher starred at Wyre Forest Company of Archers’ western competition.
In similarly tricky conditions, Fletcher persevered and shot a national record for the short western round. Fletcher bettered the previous record of 824 with a superb score of 840.
