Archery attracts big field for champs

THE recent Africa Region field archery championships outside attracted 67 archers – the highest total ever.

Twenty-nine of the competitors were from South Africa. The championships were hosted by the Windhoek Field Archery and Bow Hunting club at its shooting range just outside Windhoek Field archery is a growing sport in Namibia, and some local archers won medals at last year’s world championships in the United States.At the regional championships, Maré van der Merwe became the first Namibian archer to win a gold medal in the bow hunter unlimited class.Van der Merwe, who only took up the sport two years ago, beat former world champion Leon Heydenrych and current SA champion Tommie Ferreira with a score of 1614 out of 1680.Hofmeyer van Blerk, only six years old, won the silver medal in the under-13 class.One archer, Nico Koehne, came from South Africa with a plaster cast on his leg.The organisers were extremely surprised that he was entering at all, considering the terrain.They had never seen such a thing before.Koehne was allowed to use a quad bike, but he found it easier after a while to use his crutches instead.He also shot from a stool, which was carried for him by assistants.His ultimate placing was twelfth in a class of twenty-two, with a score of 1 507 (89 per cent).One archer, Antoni Pieters from Outjo, the only entrant in his class, shot in the recurve limited class.This is an older style bow without sights.Traditional archery is becoming more popular as more people give up their compound bows and go back to old-fashioned recurve bows.On the last day’s shoot, Dirk Sauber, a Namibian currently studying in Stellenbosch, came third overall, and dropped no points at all in a perfect Animal Round of 560 points (100 per cent), every arrow in the kill zone of the animal-shaped targets.Field archery differs from target archery in that archers must follow a course through the bush to 28 butts, and shoot from different distances from each butt, sometimes at steep angles up or down, and sometimes shooting from extremely difficult standpoints.On this particular course, one shot is taken from a ledge on a low cliff; another is taken from a log.Some of the visitors found the course difficult because of the steep slopes, particularly one long shot which has to be taken uphill, with only the blue sky as background.The range covers an area of 16,5 hectares, so there’s a lot of walking to be done.Archers began shooting the ‘Field Round’ and shot right through until about 16h00.The ‘Hunter Round’ was shot slightly more quickly the following day, as archers became more familiar with the course.On the last day, the shoot was an ‘Animal Round’, where shots are taken at targets depicting different animals.The next world championships will be held in Australia in June 2006.Some of the prominent sponsors who made the championships possible were Bow Shop Namibia, Shell Namibia, Business Connexion, Computer Cabling & Maintenance, African Twilight Safaris, Internet Technology Namibia, Bytes Technology, Goodyear South Africa, Trentyre Namibia, Continental Tyres Namibia and Steel Force, Prinsloo Drilling, N+Z Instrumentation and Bank Windhoek.The Namibia National Sports Commission endorsed the event and awarded national colours to the Namibian team members.Medal totals: Namibia: 3 gold, 12 silver, 4 bronze.South Africa: 19 gold, 5 silver, 1 bronze.The championships were hosted by the Windhoek Field Archery and Bow Hunting club at its shooting range just outside Windhoek Field archery is a growing sport in Namibia, and some local archers won medals at last year’s world championships in the United States.At the regional championships, Maré van der Merwe became the first Namibian archer to win a gold medal in the bow hunter unlimited class.Van der Merwe, who only took up the sport two years ago, beat former world champion Leon Heydenrych and current SA champion Tommie Ferreira with a score of 1614 out of 1680.Hofmeyer van Blerk, only six years old, won the silver medal in the under-13 class.One archer, Nico Koehne, came from South Africa with a plaster cast on his leg. The organisers were extremely surprised that he was entering at all, considering the terrain.They had never seen such a thing before.Koehne was allowed to use a quad bike, but he found it easier after a while to use his crutches instead.He also shot from a stool, which was carried for him by assistants.His ultimate placing was twelfth in a class of twenty-two, with a score of 1 507 (89 per cent).One archer, Antoni Pieters from Outjo, the only entrant in his class, shot in the recurve limited class.This is an older style bow without sights. Traditional archery is becoming more popular as more people give up their compound bows and go back to old-fashioned recurve bows.On the last day’s shoot, Dirk Sauber, a Namibian currently studying in Stellenbosch, came third overall, and dropped no points at all in a perfect Animal Round of 560 points (100 per cent), every arrow in the kill zone of the animal-shaped targets. Field archery differs from target archery in that archers must follow a course through the bush to 28 butts, and shoot from different distances from each butt, sometimes at steep angles up or down, and sometimes shooting from extremely difficult standpoints. On this particular course, one shot is taken from a ledge on a low cliff; another is taken from a log.Some of the visitors found the course difficult because of the steep slopes, particularly one long shot which has to be taken uphill, with only the blue sky as background. The range covers an area of 16,5 hectares, so there’s a lot of walking to be done.Archers began shooting the ‘Field Round’ and shot right through until about 16h00.The ‘Hunter Round’ was shot slightly more quickly the following day, as archers became more familiar with the course. On the last day, the shoot was an ‘Animal Round’, where shots are taken at targets depicting different animals. The next world championships will be held in Australia in June 2006.Some of the prominent sponsors who made the championships possible were Bow Shop Namibia, Shell Namibia, Business Connexion, Computer Cabling & Maintenance, African Twilight Safaris, Internet Technology Namibia, Bytes Technology, Goodyear South Africa, Trentyre Namibia, Continental Tyres Namibia and Steel Force, Prinsloo Drilling, N+Z Instrumentation and Bank Windhoek.The Namibia National Sports Commission endorsed the event and awarded national colours to the Namibian team members.Medal totals: Namibia: 3 gold, 12 silver, 4 bronze.South Africa: 19 gold, 5 silver, 1 bronze.