CúChulainn crew take the Nationals by storm
THERE were gold and silver medals galore as six members of Ardee-based CúChulainn Archers made a big impression at the Irish Indoor Championships held at NUI Galway.
Christy Banks shot in the compound masters (Over-50) and after a good performance in the qualifiers Christy made it to the headto-heads, reaching the semi-finals and placing fourth.
Éamonn Rogers competed in the senior compound and shot strongly all day. His head-toheads were tight all the way and he eventually won the gold by a single point.
Deirdre Rogers took part in the senior women’s compound and took second place despite suffering from a shoulder injury and was then able to join Éamonn in the mixed compound team event.
Brendan Forde was the only CúChulainn contender in the group of 34 male senior recurve archers. Shooting a new personal best in the qualifiers and ranking in 10th place, Brendan went on to the head-to-head rounds and missed out on the quarter-finals by a point.
Ann Marie Murray and Claudia Heinze took part in the female barebow competition, came first and second in the qualifiers and then faced each other in the final, placing as per their ranking with Ann Marie taking gold and Claudia silver.
The mixed teams competitions are considered a fun way to end to the Nationals and allow spectators a chance to cheer for their clubs.
The only team available to CúChulainn was Éamonn Rogers and Deirdre Rogers in the compound and although fun for spectators the teram competition is actually tougher to shoot as each archer must jump off the line and out of the way before the next can take their place - and all against the clock.
Nevertheless, the CúChulainn compound team managed to finish in second place.
Elsewhere, John Keenan spent two days outdoors at the Ballyvalley Daffodil Shoot over the border and after a very diffficult competition - by his own admission one of the toughest he’s ever faced - John was delighted to take home the gold.