The British clout archery rankings for the 2011 calendar year have just been released and St George’s Archery Club of Harrogate have 14 members featuring in the top rankings, the highest number in the club’s history.  The rankings are based on the sum of an individual’s top three scores in open competitions held throughout the year.

Carol Fairbrother is the number one ranked British lady barebow archer for the fourth time.  This reflects another excellent year for Carol in which she won eight competitions including the Yorkshire and Regional Championships.  Moira Salmons made superb progress throughout the year.  In October she was presented the highest award in clout archery, the purple tassel, for her score of 175 at York Archers’ shoot and her progress is reflected in her ranking jumping from 9^th in 2010 to 3^rd in 2011.   Hazel Ketley (19^th) also shot exceptionally well in her first competitive season to feature in the rankings.

Tom Woolley is the number one ranked junior longbow archer by a margin of over 150 points.  Tom retained his British title this year despite having to move up shortly before the National Championships from the u16 distance of 120 yards to the u18 distance of 140 yards.  Tom Ketley and Ben Daniel are ranked 3^rd and 4^th respectively in the junior barebow category.  They both shot superbly in their first year in the sport with Tom winning the Northern Counties Championships and Ben the Durham and Northumberland title.  They each claimed two Yorkshire record scores and hopes are high for their continued progress in 2012.

In a very competitive gentleman barebow category Nigel Cockshott was ranked at number 10, with Mike Salt improving from 17^th last year to 14^th, Dave Strike moving up from 21^st to 16^th, and Dennis Ketley rounding off his first season of shooting in a very creditable 22^nd.

The club’s longbow archers also fared well with Clive Woolley improving from 19^th last year to 9^th and Rod Spink, Steve Lilley and Geoff Oliver featuring at 14^th, 15^th and 27^th respectively.

St George’s travel to Thirsk next weekend for the friendly Brass Monkey Clout against Thirsk Bowmen and the Company of Scorton Archers before the competition season commences in earnest in April.

Tom Ketley and Ben Daniel of St George’s Archery Club have just had confirmation of their recent Yorkshire record claims.  Yorkshire Archery Association has published an updated list of county records and Tom and Ben’s scores mean that members of the Harrogate club now hold a total of 21 county and 2 British records for clout archery.   

Tom has had an exceptional first year in the sport culminating in September when he won the Northern Counties Championships.   Shooting barebow at 80 yards his scores of 67 for the single clout round  and 120 for the double clout have been confirmed as new under 12 age group county records.  Shortly after this shoot Tom had his 12^th birthday and moved up to the under 14 distance of 100 yards.  He has adapted brilliantly and made an excellent start at this new distance taking 4^th place in the British Championships last month.

Ben, also in his first year of shooting, has had an equally impressive year.  He took 4^th place in St George’s own Open Clout in August and then the bronze medal at the Northern Counties Championships.  He went on to win the Durham and Northumberland Championships before rounding off the season by shooting superbly at the British Championships to take second place in the junior barebow category.  His scores there of 74 for the single clout and 123 for the double are now confirmed as new Yorkshire records.

On 6th November five club members travelled over to Bridlington for their annual Indoor Portsmouth competition. Our juniors, Sam Moore (U14 Recurve) and Matt Stanley (U14 Compound) came away with the only awards of the day with both of them winning their respective bow and age categories. In the seniors Chris Francis was 6th in the gents Recurve, Sarah Russell was 4th in the ladies Recurve, with a competition PB of 496, and Paul Henty was 13th in the gents Compound competition.

HARROGATE’S St George’s Archery Club had a very successful day at the National Clout Archery Championships, claiming two UK titles and setting new club and county records at Bronte Archers in Bradford.

Tom Woolley retained his UK junior longbow title. Having only moved up in the last month to the U-18s-year-old distance of 140 yards Tom came from behind at the half way stage to win by a margin of 10 points.

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Moira Salmons from St George’s Archery Club, in Harrogate claimed a top archery award last weekend.

Competing in York Archers Society Open Clout, Moira shot superbly, despite difficult weather conditions, to score 175 points.

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Harrogate’S St George’s Archery Club hosted the Northern Counties Clout Archery Championships last weekend on St John Fisher School’s sports field.

More than 100 archers from Yorkshire, Lancashire, Cheshire, Cumbria, Northumberland and Durham took part and members of the Harrogate club won an unprecedented four individual and two team titles.

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