A little about my archery background...
My first taste of shooting a bow was in 1986 at a game fair in Margam Park, South Wales, when myself and some friends paid our pound each and were presented with six arrows to shoot from a beginner’s recurve bow. Despite having to cool down my forearm in a stream after hitting it with the string from a poorly released arrow, I was hooked and we all made arrangements to join Southgate Archery Club on the beautiful Gower peninsular.
Our coach Cliff Francombe developed my recurve technique to a standard where I was able to win some medals at local archery tournaments and progressively push up my personal best scores at varying distances. It must have been about two years later that Cliff turned up to one of our club nights and proudly showed us his new purchase - an amazing piece of equipment with multiple strings and a wheel at the end of each limb; it was called a compound bow and had the ability to reduce the holding weight at full draw but release a huge amount of stored energy when released - a sci-fi version of my recurve bow and an irresistible must-have to a technology hungry teenager. I purchased my first compound bow and never looked back to my recurve origins - this was the bow style for me and what I wanted to devote my energy to mastering. I shot my compound in the ‘limited’ style, as was the standard practise then, meaning that we used a finger tab and pulled the string back with our fingers just like a recurve archer. After a couple of years of great pleasure shooting this way I graduated from university in Swansea, moved to the north of England and with the demands of my early career the result was the bow being safely stored away for when I had more time to dedicate to the sport. |
Nineteen years later in 2006 I was at Devizes Bowmen’s shooting field in Wiltshire taking my bow out of its case for the first time since I’d carefully packed it away! The first few shots were very intimidating after all that time, but I knew immediately that my ‘old’ sport was going to become an all-consuming new passion. Technology and technique had come on a long way since my absence from the sport and the standard way to shoot the bow now was to use what is called a release aid which is a mechanism that you hold or is attached to your wrist, which then clips onto the string and is triggered to release the shot – a much more accurate way to shoot an arrow but also a new technique to have to master. Many hours of practise were to follow and success in local competitions spurred me on and focused my efforts. In 2007 I was invited to join our county team and represent Dorset and Wiltshire Archery Association at the annual inter-counties competition held in Exeter. Since then I have worked my way up the UK national rankings to a ranking of 7th in 2013 and hold a number of regional and county records. That year I also represented England in the Euronations Commonwealth Championships in Guernsey, achieved Grand Master Bowman classification which is the highest achievable standard in archery, was invited to train with the GB 2012 paralympic compound archery squad and also my proudest achievement to date - invited to join the GB Senior Compound Squad for 2013. My goal is to achieve international competition success in the coming years and to acquire as high a world ranking as I possibly can. |
9Click here for GB Compound Squad archery profiles.
Competition Personal Best Scores
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Major Accomplishments
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
2012
2011
2010
2017
- Sponsored by Bohning for 2017
- Member of England Compound Squad Home Nations gold medal team
- Chippenham FITA 200 gold medallist
- Bronze medallist at UK Masters Championships
- Gold medallist at Rivernook 1440
- Bronze medallist at Oxford double 720
- Silver medallist at Meriden double 1440
- Gold medallist at Waterside 1440
- Sponsored by Specialty Archery for 2018
- Sponsored by Bohning for 2018
2016
- Invited to join GB senior squad for 2017
- Ranked 4th in UK national rankings
- Sponsorship agreement with Specialty Archery
- Silver medallist at Chippenham double 50m
- Gold medallist at Cleve 1440 & silver medallist for the 720 H2H
- 6th at National Series Stage 3 & 9th at Stage 4
- 3rd Individual Day 2 County Team Championships 1440
- Silver medallist at Rivernook 1440
- Silver medallist at Andover Spring FITA
- Silver medallist at Bath double 1440
- Silver medallist at Chippenham FITA 2000 double 1440
- Contracted member of Hoyt Pro Staff 2016 team
- Sponsorship agreement with Custom Bow Equipment
2015
- 10th in UK National Rankings
- Gold medallist at Chippenham Autumn 1440
- Selected to represent GB at the Archery World Championships in Denmark
- Joint 1st at GB World Championships Selection Shoot Stage 1
- Selected to represent GB at 2015 Archery World Cup Stage 2 in Antalya, Turkey
- Bronze medallist at Cleve 1440
- Gold medallist at the Bath Double 1440
2014
- 8th in UK National Rankings
- Gold medallist at Chippenham Autumn 1440
- 5th place in the UK National Series 2014
- Gold medallist at Andoba 2014
- Selected to shoot for England at the Commonwealth Archery Championships for Europe inc Euronations 2014 in Belfast
- Selected to shoot for Great Britain at the Archery World Cup Stage 3 in Antalya, Turkey
- Gold medallist at Andover 1440
- Gold medallist at the Walsall Double 1440
- Represented Great Britain at the Archery World Cup Stage 1 in Shanghai, China
- Selected for 2014 GB Compound Squad
- Gold medallist at Droitwich Combined FITA
2013
- Selected for 2013 GB Compound Squad
- 7th in UK National Rankings
- Gold medallist at Chippenham Autumn FITA
- Silver medallist at GWAS Indoor championship
- 1st Compound at GWAS intercounties championship
- Gold medallist at St. Kingsmark FITA
- DWAA County Champion
- 7th in Archery GB National Series 2013
- 5th at British Target Championships
- Member of winning England compound team at Home Nations Championships
- 2nd at Andoba Double FITA Star
- 3rd at Commonwealth Archery Championships for Europe inc Euronations 2013
- Gold medallist at Rivernook Double 50m
- 3rd Day 2 (FITA) of UK Masters & 6th overall
- Gold medallist at Andover Spring FITA
2012
- Ranked 13th in UK National Target Rankings
- Gold medallist (Team) Representing England in European Commonwealth Regional Archery Championship
- Reserve for England team in UK Home Nations Championship
- Achieved Grand Master Bowman classification
- Invited to two training sessions with Team GB Paralympic Archery Squad to help with head to head training in preparation for the London 2012 Paralympics
- Gold medallist at Welsh Indoor Championship
- Gold medallist at DWAA Indoor Championship
- Gold medallist at Mere FITA 18
- Gold medallist at Chippenham Double FITA
- Bronze medallist at Walsall Double FITA
- Bronze medallist at Andover FITA
- Gold medallist at Southern Counties Archery Meeting
- Gold medallist at Evesham Double 50m
- Gold medallist at Devizes Top Ten York
- 7th place at UK Masters
- Gold medallist at Neath York
- Gold medallist at Supermarine FITA
- 4th place at Andober Double FITA
- Gold medallist at Salisbury Double 50m
- 8th place at British Target Championship
- Gold medallist at Welsh Open Championship FITA at St. Kingsmark
- Gold medallist at Hampshire Open Championship
- Gold medallist (Team) & Silver medallist (Individual) at GWAS Intercounties Championship
- Gold medallist at Chippenham Autumn FITA
- Elected Communications Officer for Devizes Bowmen for 3rd successive year.
2011
- Ranked 28th in UK National Target Rankings
- Achieved Master Bowman classification
- 1st Visitor at Welsh Indoor Championship
- Silver medallist at DWAA Indoor Championship
- Silver medallist at Chippenham FITA
- Bronze medallist at Andover Saxon York
- Gold medallist at Southern Counties Archery Meeting
- Silver medallist at Supermarine FITA
- Silver medallist at Salisbury Double 70m
- 15th place at British Target Championship
- Gold medallist at DWAA County Championship
- Bronze medallist at Royal Toxophilite invitational shoot
- Gold medallist at St. Kingsmark FITA
- Gold medallist at Chippenham Autumn FITA
- Gold medallist (Team) at GWAS Intercounties Championship
- Gold medallist at Mere Archers FITA 18
- Gold medallist at Royal Navy South Coast Archers Portsmouth
- Gold medallist at Gloucestershire Indoor Championship
2010
- Ranked 45th in UK National Target Rankings
- Achieved Master Bowman classification
- Silver medallist at DWAA Indoor Championship
- Bronze medallist at Andover Saxon York
- Gold medallist at Southern Counties Archery Meeting
- Silver medallist at Dunster GWAS championship
- Silver medallist at Supermarine FITA
- Bronze medallist at Battle of Britain FITA
- Gold medallist (Team) at GWAS Intercounties Championship
- Silver medallist at Gloucestershire Indoor Championship
- Silver medallist at GWAS Indoor Championship