By JO HARRISON
ARCHERS from across Australia were on target at the Armidale Sportsground over the weekend for the 2013 Hoyt Easton Australian Open archery championships.
Armidale Archers once again have proven themselves as a club that can host major archery events with precision. The event went off without a hitch and the 91 archers that competed enjoyed the top facilities at the sportground.
Three Armidale archers competed in the Men’s Compound event and the team event.
Veteran Archer Dennis Carson placed the best of the trio in the Men’s Compound making it to the round of eight losing to Troy Balmer 140-135 points.
On his way to the round of eight, Dennis played his son Jeff Carson in the round of 16 in what was a tight tussle narrowly winning 134- 131.
Rounding out the trio was David Howe who lost in the round of 32 in a shoot out to Vernon Petersen. In the teams event, the boys from Armidale lost to the eventual gold medalists.
Armidale Archers spokesperson Julia Howe said the event was a great success and the members of the club were looking forward to a well earned rest.
“The competition over the weekend has been of an extremely high standard,” she said.
“We have our London Olympic and Commonwealth Games Archers here as well as top New Zealand archers.”
Staging a high profile national event like this is a real honour for the Armidale Archers and a opportunity to showcase Armidale’s premier sporting facilities.
“While the number of competitors only total 91 in terms of publicity for the sport and the financial boost for Armidale it is so important to our local economy,” Ms Howe said.
“And some archers have said that they will be staying on in the region to have a good look around.”
