Having started shooting in 2018 I had been firmly a target archer, shooting competition almost every weekend. I had a little go at clout archery and watched a bit of field, but target was where I happily stayed, concentrating on how to stay in my sport as my body began to break down.
Then came covid and lockdown .
In 2021 as life began to return to normal I started to book myself back in to competition but there were some gaps in the calendar, so I reached out on social media to look for events . Across the virtual world the hand of archery friendship invited me to join the national flight competition on 15/8/21. Reassuring me that they would teach me on the field !! At the national championships – 😱
So off I set on that Sunday morning to drive from Northamptonshire to Leeds and shoot 4 ends of 6 arrows. It wasn’t going to take long – right?
WRONG!!!
But it was the most amazing day of fun, meeting some of the most welcoming people I have ever had the pleasure of meeting.
By the end of the day I had 4 national medals and found a place I love!
Amongst this place – which I often describe as scrapyard challenge meets archery – I found something I loved and started to make plans for 2022 and the flight season – I knew I wanted to earn a raptor badge at the very least in 2022.
Along with my own shooting also thinking how I could help others to learn about this style of archery, which is restricted due to the length required for the range.
Here fits in my adopted club, Riverside Archery Club, who had created a presentation to be delivered by a team of flight archery ambassadors. So I offered to learn and deliver the presentation for them locally, and in the area that I am prepared to travel, to introduce others to flight archery.
So here I am, if you would like the flight workshop presentation at your club, give me a call and I will come along and everyone will get a badge, we all love a shiny badge 😜❤️🏹 Everyone has enjoyed trying something new since I did my first presentation in September 2022, give it a go.
11th September 2022 saw me go to my second national championships, this time bringing home 2 golds, a silver and a bronze and a love for shooting footbow! I did indeed achieve my goal of my first raptor badge, a Merlin and also my masters classification.
2023 saw me miss out on the competitions for a number of reasons, but 2024 had me back on the range! I came home from the nationals with a silver in the Class 2 target compound NE 45lb and broke my county record set in 2022. The following day at the NCAS regional flight I broke the county record that I had set the day before and the 2 days saw me earn the kestrel raptor badge.
So get in touch and I will come and share a taste of flight archery with you, and keep your eye open because I am hoping to help add another competition to the flight calendar but in our neck of the woods – exciting!!!
