Real string to club’s Bow as tournaments prove big hit
ARCHERY
THE Bowmen of Walker Archery Club hosted two major tournaments in seven days at Benfield Centre for Sporting Excellence in Newcastle.
Firstly came the Northern Counties Archery Association Regional championships, followed by the club’s own world record status tournament the Iverna.
More than 250 archers from across the country and abroad attended the two events.
Fifteen of Archery GB’s national team were in attendance as well as members of the English Archery Federation.
Entrants from the Bowmen of Walker won several of the categories in both tournaments.
Centre for Sporting Excellencemanager Malcolm Munrow said: “It was a real coup for our centre to host such prestigious events.
“It was a real pleasure to see so many archers in attendance, especially the younger competitors.”
Local archer Allison Hull won the ladies’ regional title with GB archer and Walker member Alex Wise capturing the junior men’s award. Walker and England archer Cameron Taylor-Thorn took the junior compound prize and Walker’s GB field team member Mark Robertson broke the national barebow record to take the title.
This is the second time Bowmen of Walker have held their Ivernia tournament – and this year the event was significantly larger entrant-wise than in 2016.
Joint organiser Chris Wise said: “Tournaments like this take a while to become established and for archers to decide to place it in their calendar.
“So to see the shoot grow like this in just its second year is simply fantastic.
“Hosting such major events like this takes a massive amount of planning.
“Its success is a testament to the club members who worked so hard in ensuring both events went so well.”
The Bowmen club, established 42 years ago, has continued to steadily grow.
However, the upsurge of the sport in recent years means it has become one of the largest clubs in the area with almost 100 members.
One outstanding feature of both Bowmen competitions was the number of archers with impairments who were involved.
They played a full part in the action and Ponteland wheelchair archer Ken Hargreaves was runnerup in the Northern Counties event.
He recently came fourth at the Invictus Games in Canada.
Anyone interested in taking up archery should check out upcoming beginners’ courses at www.bowmenofwalker.club.
WATCH out for a picture special on archer Alex Wise in Grassroots Sport over the festive period.