Over seventy archers enter Ballyvally's Easter Bunny shoot

Taking part in the Annual Easter Bunny Tournament in Banbridge Leisure Centre hosted by Ballyvally Archery Club.

The round was a FITA Field unmarked and it was partly a preparation for 39 Ballyvally archers going to the English Field Championships in Kendal, Cumbria and in also in the British Open, which will be hosted in June by Ballyvally archers for the fifth time.

There were good scores recorded. In the junior/cub groups anything over 300 for 24 targets is considered excellent. In the under 10 years group, one archer, Abi Beattie, shot 329. She won the Sam Jackson Trophy presented by Shannon Russell-Cowan as the most improved cub.

Not far behind was Katie Jennings with 292. In the minor (under 15 yrs) and junior squads (under 18 yrs) there were eight scores over 300 as follows;

Sinead Byrne (316), Eleanor Walsh (307), Aidan Heaney (303), Dylan Sims (313), Stuart McCullough (318), Matthew Nash (311), Sian Heaney (304), and Caoimhe Heaney (336). Senior archers also did well with 11 archers achieving the magic 300 as follows;

Ladies:Samantha Leonard (322), Romaine Mehaffey (319), Karen Quigley (305), Elaine Barlow (300), Patricia McLean (317), Marion Patterson (331), Valerie Sleith (324), and Orla O’Connor (375).

Gents: Kim Pegrum (320). The closest competition was between Paul Copeland (compound barebow) and Sam Jackson (barebow). Both ended on 336, both had no misses, so it went to 6’s. Sam had 15 arrows scoring six but Paul had only 13 sixes...close.

To finish the tournament, while the scorers were calculating the results, the club organises a knockout in the various ages and styles.

Winners in the under 10 yrs were Alexander Love / Abi Beattie; Under 13 yrs were Dyln Simms / Eleanor Walsh; Under 18 yrs were Sian Heaney / Michael Toland; Ladies winners were Romaine Mehaffey / Orla O’Connor; Gents winners were Sam Jackson / Kevin Heaney; Traditional style winner was Gary Barlow; Sighted archer winner was John Foster.

Ballyvally Committee would like to thank all those who contributed raffle prizes, the junior Committee under Caoimhe Heaney who sold tickets, the judges, Shannon Russell-Cowan, Eddie McClean, Bernie Scullion and Frank Mulligan. The registration team, Pat Mulligan, Ann Lavery, Sean Lavery, Eddie McClean, and also Valerie Sleith, Eddie McClean and Orla O’Connor who set up the targets etc in the morning.

The committee would also like to wish good luck to the 39 members of Ballyvally who are heading off to Kendal after Easter to shoot in the English Field Champs and club members are reminded of the weeks outdoor shooting on the 28th and 31st March.

For more details contact Frank Mulligan on 406 23748.