As the fictious, famed Chaos Theorist and open shirt enthusiast, Dr Ian Malcom, once said, “Hang on, this is going to be bad.”
3D Archery is not like Field Archery, and very far removed from Target Archery. Each of the 24 targets is unique in itself, never mind its set up. First you have to assess the set up of the target; is it uphill? down hill? how poor is the light? what’s going to become of my arrow if I miss? Then you have the target itself. They often fall into two categories: tall and narrow, or wide and narrow. However, this does nothing to simplify the situation.
And many an archer was asking, “What has become of my arrow?”
With a name like the Buttercup Shoot, one might think it was going to be a simple affair. However, this round was one of three major events cross-hosted by archery clubs, including Wicklow Archers, so the Ballyvally setup team put on their most devious thinking caps. It did not matter that many of us had shot at Carraig Woods before, this may as well have been a new venue.
So, what a time to bring my English longbow, Dimah, back into the game.
Given the significance of the event, there were over eighty archers present, with many coming up from the south, and some as far as the south of England to attend. I have not been to a round with so many archers present since the All British in 2019. I’d never seen group lists where every single target had a group starting on it.
And speaking of shooting groups, I was back to being the youngest once more. Given I’m on the wrong side of 35, that’s something. Thankfully I had some easy going archers with me. Well, easy going, and then Peter Gilmore who is inclined to lament anything less than two 11s. I will often tell him that he should shoot longbow, as it will make him more grateful. But he still knows how to enjoy himself. Peter’s presence puts the pressure on (sounds like a tongue twister when I read it back), given he can shoot his way around the toughest courses, rebelling against physical health issues. The man is an inspiration in this regard, especially for the Masters group.
At the practise bosses, I bumped into Susan Agnew, who has only recently transitioned into shooting 3D. Despite being a recurve archer, and saying very mean things about longbow, we’re actually friends. She was assembling sights on her bow, fixing on a tape of sorts with measurements, and making me feel very simple with my length of wood and string. Somewhere down the line I shall get a longbow in her hands for a bit of craic. But I do envy the confident poise and self-assured manner in which Susan carries herself about these events. I liken her to a honey badger – not just because she’s small – in that she too could probably stare down a lion.
Naturally the A-Team from the south were there; the likes of Alan Callister, Steven Wall Morris, Marek Balaz, Sharon Eady, et al. Many great archers who I have shot with at one time or another. Alan Callister – apart from being the only person who would get that my flask is a replica of the can Nedry used in Jurassic Park to steal the dinosaur embryos – would usually keep me out of first place in flatbow.
Our first target was misleading to say the least. A pair of foxes at a moderate distance, a bit of a confidence builder, but set up to be challenging enough to keep our form sharp. We all put our arrows on, and were happy. Then, baited, we moved into the trap.
Our first indicator was a bear, at a distance with a hungry marsh behind it – when we first approached it the group ahead of us was looking for arrows. Whilst I had a miss, the advantage of wooden arrows is that they often stick up and out of the ground, and with the lower velocities of the bows, won’t bury themselves too much. Peter Gilmore lost one, which is a serious blow of course. I hear barebow archers spend the likes of a King’s ransom on a dozen!
A highlight were the mud skippers. These singular looking fish looked well within the more marshy parts of the course, and made for a difficult target. The wasps too, were a great challenge. Whilst we were shooting them from atop a mound of rocks, the course setters had orientated them so the scoring rings were on the back. Furthermore, from the high angle, the length of the body was no safety net either. The year before, Sian McBroom with her flatbow had two misses on a target in the same location, and two broken arrows.
On the loop back, I encountered the McBrooms from my own club and Bangor. Jordan, the former boxer, was shooting compound, a recent transition. With the beard he would not look out of place as a frontiersman hunting game, and was a rugged contrast to his bright-eyed sister with her bioluminescent hair and nine-year-old-energy. It was great to see this family trio out again after such a long hiatus.
In our second half, things began to bear down on us with the unrelenting tenacity of cold rain – a gradual, wearing down, as target after target sought to drain our confidence. I’d been hoping the hardest of it all was behind us as we entered the second half. Just ask the ibex and the otters. The panther was a little boast of confidence, but with only one hit on most of the targets I was struggling.
I mean I don’t know why I’m lamenting. I put in a decent score, especially considering I hadn’t used my English longbow for years. The day overall stretched dormant muscles and forced my shooting instincts to be at their sharpest. I prefer the tougher courses for these reasons. It’s one thing to shoot a personal best on an easy course, but there is no feeling of satisfaction in having earned it. At least with the type of course set before us that day, every point would be earned, and every miss a reminder that archery is something that can never truly be tamed. That archery gives us the constant satisfaction of self improvement with new challenges to work against as we overcome the current ones. A great course, and I’m looking forward to shooting it next year.
Ballyvally’s next shoot is the Bluebell Shoot at Loughbrickland on the 10th and 11th of May – a Field Round, Mixed. The entry form can be found on their Facebook page.
