Fi Berry, a new Fleet Ibex member, volunteered to help with the recent 3DUK Series shoot held at the club grounds on 7th and 8th October 2017. She writes .........
3DUK Series - What is it all about?
For the second year running Fleet Ibex has hosted The Archery Company 3D National Series at the club. The fifth and final event in a UK wide series took place on the 7th-8th of October.
It was an amazing weekend and show cased a modern and innovative format that is growing in popularity year on year. It is an exciting addition to the existing panoply of competition formats and rules.
Far from being an exclusive event it is one of the most inclusive, welcoming archers from every level, shooting Traditional, Recurve, Compound and Crossbows. Its ethos is to promote patience and respect for all archers, whatever style they have chosen to shoot.
While the course set up makes access easy and the close proximity of the targets makes great use of space and reduces the time spent moving between targets. So, more time for shooting!
What really came across was how the format facilitates great social engagement amongst all the participants and encourages a real sense of camaraderie amongst all the archers. Judging from all the laughter and banter from all sides, it definitely works.
There are two competitions each day, comprising of an unknown distance in the morning and known distance— in the afternoon, taking between 3.5 and 4hours each.
The amateur classes compete for medals, while the professionals compete for cash prizes generated from the Pro subs they have paid to enter the event.
There were archers from across the UK and Europe, and even some of Fleet Ibex’s finest who did the club proud by coming away with medals. Congratulations to Steven Hursthouse for winning the amateur Barebow Recurve class and to Ed Britton for coming second in amateur Open Class.
There are additional competitions one of which the Pro Pressure Shoot Down was great fun to watch, as was the charity competition ‘The Long shot’, where archers had to hit a target up to 101 yards distance in the nominated 120mm spot. (Designated Charity - Help for Heroes).
While the event was organised and run by 3DUK, special mention should go to Ibex club secretary Terry Mills, who ensured all the necessary preparation was done and represented the club over the course of the weekend. Here’s looking forward to next year!
For further info check out the following links.
3DUK Series: https://www.3darchery.co.uk
Results: https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/b78fd3_155f01cfd439426a9e57aa71dec7559c.pdf
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pg/3DAUK/posts/?ref=page_internal
Photos by Dean Layton-James: https://www.facebook.com/pg/ArcheryFoto/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1151529858283948
Video 2017 Series 5 Pro Shoot off at Ibex:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o09x9IJrPgE&feature=youtu.be
Video 2016 Series 5 Long Shot Shoot Off at Ibex: