Archers in the medals in Guernsey

Three members of Shetland Archery Club took part in the “Guernsey Games 2013”, put on by the Bowmen of Guernsey because archery was one of the sports dropped from the NatWest Island Games in Bermuda.

Guernsey ran a week of competition to world record status for 49 archers from 10 islands.

After an afternoon of practise on the Sunday afternoon the competition got under way last Monday in weather that was reminiscent of Shetland.

Despite being used to windy conditions the team were not able to match the Guernsey and Orkney competitors in the FITA competition. However, they performed better on the Tuesday in the individual head-to-head and the team head-to-head rounds.

This is the high pressure knock-out format for archery that is used at the Olympic Games. Dylan Murphy won gold and Rosaleen Williamson got silver in the individual head-to-head competition.

Then in the afternoon the team of Murphy, David Williamson and Rosaleen Williamson fought off challenges from Sark and the Falkland Islands to secure the bronze medal.

Murphy won silver in the York round held on the Thursday which involved shooting six dozen arrows at 100 yards, four dozen at 80 yards and two dozen at 60 yards. Murphy was edged into the silver position by one point by a competitor from the Falklands in the indoor combined FITA competition on the Friday.

The Shetland team members said they would like to commend and thank the Bowmen of Guernsey, in particular Steve Yates, for the great organisation and generous hospitality shown to all participants. They wish the Shetland Island Games competitors even greater success in Bermuda.

See this week’s Shetland Times for part one of the newspaper’s Island Games preview.