Kieran O’Brien shooting a Marked League Round
Cambridge’s Simon Young is one of three Lakeview Archers heading to Yankton, South Dakota, with the New Zealand Black Arrows team in July.
The Lake Karāpiro-based club also have Raglan duo Kieran O’Brien, 13, and his dad Rory competing in the International Field Archery Association (IFAA) World Field Archery event.
Lakeview Archers at Whitford in February. From left, Sharon Burling Claridge (Matamata), Robyn Denton (Tamahere), Simon Young (Cambridge), club president and property owner Christine Finnegan (Piarere), Tobyn Tilsley (Raglan), Lachie Tilsley (Raglan), Kieran O’Brien (Raglan), Rory O’Brien (Raglan), Jane Francis (Auckland), Linda Lainchbury (Auckland), Mike Lainchbury (Auckland), Ed Stewart (Paeroa), Alton Whibley (Paeroa), Tina Whibley (Paeroa) and Tony Denton (Tamahere).
NZFAA announced the selection of the Champion of Nations team, along with styles teams, where all the team members shoot the same style of bow and equipment.
Young has been selected for both the Champion of Nations team and the Bowhunter Unlimited Style team. Rory is also in the Bowhunter Unlimited Style team and Kieran will travel with him.
Kieran is excited to be a member of the large team.
“Normally archery is an individual sport, so it is really nice to be in a team environment for this event,” he said.
Lakeview Archers president Christine Finnegan said it’s great to see club members being selected to represent New Zealand in this discipline.
“It is particularly exciting to have a father and son duo heading off for a great adventure together,” Finnegan said.
This selection follows a busy May for the archers including a successful showing at the NZ Field Archery (NZFAA) Marked Nationals.
Lakeview Archers had 15 members travel to the nationals hosted by the Massey Archery Club in Kumeu. Almost 80 archers from throughout New Zealand converged to compete
Field archery involves following a designed route, shooting targets at varying distances at varying angles – similar to playing a round of golf.
Archers shot bullseye style targets at the recent NZFAA Marked Nationals.
Sometimes these are paper bullseye style targets, or there are also 3D rounds where archers shoot at life size rubber models of popular game hunting animals.
The distance of the target from the archer varies according to the age of the archer.
The nationals saw archers shooting four arrows at each of the 28 bullseye style targets out on the course each day with each round taking between six and seven hours to complete.
Thirteen Lakeview Archers brought home medals and certificates from the weekend.
Five – Kieran O’Brien, Robyn Denton, Christine Finnegan, Dennis Bryce and Dave Nicholson – also brought home trophies for winning the marked league series which consisted of three one-day events leading up to and including the nationals.
“The weather was absolutely perfect for archery,” Finnegan said. “The Massey club did a great job in putting out a technically challenging course for us to shoot.”
Kieran O’Brien shooting a Marked League Round at Franklin Archers last October.
