SWWU takes National Indoors by storm!

SWWU sent a large convoy of archers to the Archery GB National Indoor Championships today, with some great scores being shot! The WA18 seeding round was followed by some tense head-to-head matches, which never fail to excite.

Plymouth's Alex Rowe put in a stellar performance in the seeding round, scoring 560/600 to rank 23rd in the gents' recurve category. Alex went on to win his first H2H match 6-0 against 10th seed Mark Nesbitt and put up a valiant fight against 7th seed Tom Barber in the last 16, eventually succumbing to a 7-1 defeat to the eventual silver medalist, placing him in joint 9th position overall. Plymouth's Joe Tripp also shot well in the seeding round, with his score of 557 ranking him 27th, before being knocked out 6-2 to 8th seed Ryan Holden. Swansea alumni Nicole Almond also qualified for the H2H matches, seeding 23rd in the ladies' compound category before being knocked out by just 6 points, 140-146 by 10th seed Victoria Loader. Aberystwyth's Alex Newnes scored 346 to seed 5th in the gents' longbow competition and managed to get all the way to the quarter finals of the H2Hs before eventually being knocked out by 4th seed Kevin Macey. SWWU also had two ladies' longbow representatives in the H2H matches, with Plymouth's Emma King seeding 10th and making it to the last 16, while Aberystwyth alumnus Beth Duthie seeded 9th, making it through to the quarter finals.

Other commendable performances include Cardiff alumnus Tom Braxton and Exeter alumnus Tom Ledgerwood, who both narrowly missed the cut in the gents' recurve category with scores of 552 and 551 respectively, seeding them 34th and 37th. Also, Exeter alumnus Xin Liu shot 498 to seed 43rd in the ladies' recurve, with Plymouth's Kerry Marks not far behind on 486 to seed 52nd.

A fun day was had by all, with only one small car crash of note, but at least Joe's duck managed to escape being kicked for once. Archers are now setting their sights on something far bigger - Next weekend's SWWU Indoor Championship!

See you there...

^Totally legitimate photo by Emma Brand and Matt Butler