After the successful reinstatement of the Auckland District Archery Association, the inaugural Auckland District Target Championships was held at the Auckland Archery Club in One Tree Hill over Auckland Anniversary weekend. It was an extremely successful tournament.
The first day consisted of a World Archery 1440 round, and the second two World Archery 720 rounds (the scores from both resulting in the Target champions). A match-play event was also held on the Monday.
The tournament was held in extremely windy conditions with variable light, however the archers prevailed. Entries came from all around Auckland as well as further afield, including Rotorua, River Glade and Tauranga.
It was a tough-fought battle in some divisions, the Women’s Recurve title being hotly contested, as was the Men’s Compound between old rivals Stephen Clifton and Shaun Teasdale.
It was hard again on the Monday where the magic of Match-play meant anything could happen. Those in the Intermediate Recurve divisions were added together and set to shoot at 45m; Compound archers were shooting against each other in an Open division at 50m; and the Recurve archers were split into Senior Women and Senior Men, all shooting at 70m.
Callum Stinson of Shore Archery Club surprised everyone with his cool head in the Junior matchplay, heading straight to the gold medal match against Rhys Berryman of River Glade, while first-ranked Chayse Martin-Roberts of Mountain Green had to be content with a bronze, beating Matthew Storer of Auckland in a nail-biting finish. Callum showed great perserverance and won the gold, leaving Rhys with a silver.
The wind came up for the Compound matches, and first-ranked Stephen Clifton of Auckland settled for bronze against Marcus Barclay of Rotorua. It was a head-to-head match for Stephen Florence and Shaun Teasdale in the gold, as they see-sawed points back and forth for the first three ends. There didn’t seem to be any let-up in the tension until the last end, where Shaun finally got his old team-mate by 2 points, 138 to 136.
In the Women’s Recurve, it was an all-Auckland finish. Caroline Geelen faced Vera Yakzhik for the bronze, taking it out in straight sets, and for the gold, Sarah Fuller and Elizabeth Andrew battled for supremacy. First Elizabeth had points, then Sarah, then Elizabeth again. Elizabeth, looking outwardly cool under pressure and solid in the wind, mustered all her strength for the last shot and managed to take the last set and the match, despite all Sarah’s best and bravest efforts, winning the gold medal.
The door was open in the Men’s Recurve for surprises, and fourth-ranked Philippe Dussart provided them. In the bronze medal match, it was old hands Warren Kertell from Auckland and Trevor Kennerson of Tauranga fighting against each other, and despite Warren’s experience in match-play, it was Trevor who managed to take the bronze in straight sets. In the gold, newcomer Philippe Dussart of Auckland, who had stormed into the top match, faced Duncan Liu of River Glade, also an experience match-play archer. For his first medal match, Philippe opened with a solid end, taking the first two points. Unfortunately the wind was not kind, and Duncan quickly caught up and passed him, winning the gold 6 – 2.
Congratulations to all the archers who attended and the ADAA looks forward to another great tournament next year!
Results from the Target are:
Men’s Recurve:
1st Duncan Liu (River Glade)
2nd Warren Kertell (Auckland)
3rd Yiftach Swery (Auckland)
Women’s Recurve:
1st Sarah Fuller (Auckland)
2nd Elizabeth Andrew (Auckland)
3rd Caroline Geelen (Auckland)
Master’s Men’s Recurve:
1st Trevor Kennerson (Tauranga)
2nd Young Ko (Auckland)
3rd Andrew Earnshaw (Auckland)
Men’s Compound:
1st Stephen Clifton (Auckland)
2nd Shaun Teasdale (Auckland)
3rd Stephen Florence (Mountain Green)
Junior Men’s Compound:
1st Marcus Barclay (Rotorua)
Junior Women’s Compound:
1st Elizabeth Randle (Rotorua)
2nd Iori Morley (Rotorua)
Intermediate Men’s Recurve:
1st Chayse Martin-Roberts (Mountain Green)
2nd Rhys Berryman (River Glade)
3rd Samuel Hudson (Mountain Green)
Intermediate Women’s Recurve:
1st Bilqis Hague (Auckland)
Intermediate Men’s Compound:
1st Jonty Knocker (Auckland)
Matchplay:
Men’s Recurve:
Gold Duncan Liu (River Glade)
Silver Philippe Dussart (Auckland)
Bronze Trevor Kennerson (Tauranga)
Women’s Recurve:
Gold Elizabeth Andrew (Auckland)
Silver Sarah Fuller (Auckland)
Bronze Caroline Geelen (Auckland)
Open Compound:
Gold Shaun Teasdale (Auckland)
Silver Stephen Florence (Mountain Green)
Bronze Stephen Clifton (Auckland)
Junior Recurve:
Gold Callum Stinson (Shore)
Silver Rhys Berryman (River Glade)
Bronze Chayse Martin-Roberts (Mountain Green)