Archery

Archery.

The earliest records of archery date back as far as the ancient Egyptians 5000 years ago when it was used for hunting and warfare. Many ancient cultures regarded archery as an art until it became eventually a popular leisure pursuit in the 16^th century. King Henry VIII founded the first club – The Brotherhood of St. George in 1537 and the first recorded contest was in London in 1583 and the first International competition held between English and French archers in 1900.

            Archery became an Olympic sport in 1900 and was included in every year until 1920, except Stockholm in 1912. It is now well established as an Olympic Sport with the leading Gold medal winners coming from South Korea. Both men and women participate in the sport at the Olympics.

Competition takes place outdoors and is separated into four categories, individual and team events for both men and women. Archers compete from a standing position, 70m away from the target and aim to land their arrow in the central circle – the inner gold ring. An arrow in the innermost circle is worth 10 points and an arrow in the outermost circle counts for one with those in between worth from two to nine points. Disabled archers are able to stay in their wheel chairs.

            A one-day ranking round opens the competition and places archers from 1 to 64, depending on their score after six ends of 12 arrows each. The top 64 archers are then paired for a knockout tournament.

            Equipment consists of a bow, arrow and target.

            The bow has an aluminium riser – the central part of the bow where the grip is located as well as two limbs, an adjustable sight and stabilisers and the all-important bowstring.

            The arrows are metal tipped and made of carbon, with a shaft diameter of up to 9.3mm and of a variable length depending on the archer.

            The target stands 1.3m off the ground and has a diameter of 1.22m with each ring measuring 12.2cm wide and the innermost being, the 10, 12.2cm in diameter.

            More information can be had on the Grand National Archery Society web site, www.gnas.org

            Simply Sports stock a range of bows, arrows and targets to suit all age groups and experience by one of the leading manufacturers of archery equipment – Petron.