Great Southern Archers held their Inaugural Matchplay
Tournament on the 8th and 9th March at their grounds at
Strathalbyn.

Between 6.00 and 6.30am each morning approximately fifteen to
twenty members arrived to set up targets, erect shade tents, and set up water
points for the expected heat of the day.

Matchplay is an important event as it is the same as that
used at the Olympic Games.

To explain simply it is like a tennis tournament, everyone is
rated (seeded) and the matchplay chart is set up so that hopefully, all going
well, the two top rated archers shoot off against each other, but, anything can
happen!!

The event was also registered with FITA our international
governing body with results being counted towards each archers national and
international standing.

The interest shown in the matchplay resulted thirty-seven
entries from six country and suburban clubs.

This is the first time that this type of FITA Cup event has
been held in South Australia.

By 8.00am most archers for the morning session had arrived
and were ready for a half hour practise.

The first group consisted of the Mens Compound bows with
twenty archers shooting twelve ends of six arrows.

Shooting went smoothly although the heat did increase, but a
patch of cloud cooled things down until it dissipated and it started to get hot
again.

The morning session went so smoothly that it finished quite
early.

During the shooting and while waiting for lunch everyone was
plied with cold fruit and watermelon which circulated constantly much to their
delight.

During lunch the ratings resulting from the morning shoot
were posted, and there was great interest in the outcome.

The afternoon shoot consisted of the Boys Compound, Women’s
Compound, Men’s Recurve, and Women’s Recurve, seventeen archers in
all.

The weather was hot and got hotter as the shoot
progressed.

At the conclusion of the sixth end the Director of Shoot
called the match off as there was enough score to give the necessary
ratings.

Murphy’s law stepped in and about fifteen minutes later a
cool change came through.

Archers and friends were encouraged to remain behind to
socialise and partake of some refreshment provided by Pat’s Archery, which was
well received by everyone.

During Sunday mornings briefing archers were surprised to
receive Fita Star and Standard awards, thanks to the diligence or our National
Recorder, Clare Barnes.

The awards are of different colours, the highest two were
Peter Bailey from Eden Fields with a Gold, and Pat Coghlan, Great Southern with
a Purple, only one of six awarded so far this year.

After another half hour practise the shoot got under way and
the weather started to get hot again.

This time the archers had to shoot two ends of six arrows,
not much chance to recover from any mistakes.

Also adding to the pressure is the fact that there is no
repair time given for equipment failures.

Even so there were a few tense moments when a couple of one
arrow shoot offs occurred, the first Michael Felix, Great Southern had to shoot
off against Jay Moylan, Cressy Bowmen, the results of which were Michael 10, Jay
9.

Great shooting from both, all the encouragement from various
supporters spurred them on.

The second shoot off was between Marianne Rieckmann, Cressy
Bowman, and Amie Gunawan, Adelaide Archery Club, results being Marianne 8, Amie
9.

The Gold Medal Round participants shoot four ends of three
arrows, which helps to build the tension for both competitors and
spectators.

After some very close shooting the results were
in.

Women’s Compound; Gold, Sherry Gale; Silver, Sue Martin;
Bronze June Welden.

Men’s Compound; Gold, Pat Coghlan; Silver, Michael Felix;
Bronze, Peter Bailey.

Women’s Recurve; Gold, Wendy Moylan; Silver, Amie Gunawan;
Bronze, Marianne Reichmann.

Men’s Recurve; Gold, Grant Cole; Silver, Jordan Womacks;
Bronze, Michael Ormerod.

Boy’s Compound; Gold, Aaron Grubel; Silver, Harry Smith;
Bronze, Andrew Bradley.

Presentations were made to the above winners and a great
surprise for the Boy’s Compound winners, an anonymous benefactor had donated
prize money of $100.00 for the Gold, and $50.00 for the Silver, and then another
donation of $500.00 to kick off the next Matchplay.

A few more surprises were forthcoming, during the qualifying
rounds it was discovered that both Andrew Bradley and Pat Coghlan had set new
Australian Records, and Sherri Gale had equalled the Australian
Record, all in their respective bow types.

Pictures here:  http://www.greatsouthernarchers.com.au/image/tid/190

Our special thanks go to;

Our Director of Shoot, Jim Larven the CEO of Archery
Australia, who had flown in from Canberra especially for the
tournament.

According to him he needed some practise as he will be DOS at
the upcoming World Youth Target Championships in Turkey.

Clare Barnes the National Recorder, for keeping all our
scores Michael Wright , Jesse Gale, and Bruce Gardner for setting up and
maintaining the field, Debbie and Simon Lindsay, Margaret Wright and Bev Grubel
who kept us fed with fantastic meals both days, and the ladies who passed fresh
fruit up and down the line, also those who helped with the score
sheets.

Last but not least a big congratulations and well done to Pat
Coghlan who set the whole thing in motion, even though he had to compete in Las
Vegas during the set up period.

The CEO of Archery Australia has indicated that he would like
to see GSA run another matchplay in September just prior to the National
Championships.

Any archery enquiries should be directed to
0406932435.

Our next shoot is at Strathalbyn on Saturday 15th
March at 1.00pm and at Goolwa Sports Stadium on Monday 17th March at
7.00pm