In action during the NMMU Archery champs, which were held in Grahamstown, were, from left, Mike Wisch, Anton-Pierre Swart, Gavin Tweddle and Lance Ho. Photo: Supplied
In action during the NMMU Archery champs, which were held in Grahamstown, were, from left, Mike Wisch, Anton-Pierre Swart, Gavin Tweddle and Lance Ho. Photo: Supplied
The Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU) Archery Championships took place at Rhodes University Great Field recently.
A number of Rhodes Archery Club members took part in the event, which was held over two days.
The weekend tested archers’ skills under a burning hot sun on the first day and extreme windy conditions on the second.
“The NMMU championships moved to Grahamstown this year because of economic issues at the NMMU club in Port Elizabeth,” said Ettione Ferreira of the Rhodes Archery Club. The Rhodes Archery Club gave a helping hand to support the archery development at NMMU and to prevent the event from falling away completely.
On the first day, archers experienced sunny weather and some very good scores as a result. The second day turned out to be a bit more of a struggle when archers’ patients were tested by the unpredictable wind.
Newcomer Tony van Dyk from Nyati Archery Club in East London won the gold in the men’s compound unlimited division shooting a 1290. This was his first Fita competition. Gavin Tweddle from Rhodes Archery Club received silver and Mike Wisch, also from Rhodes, received bronze.
In the recurve men’s division, Lance Ho (from Rhodes) took the gold after struggling in the wind and heat. The compound unlimited U18 division saw Anton-Pierre Swart from Londt Park being determined to shoot some good scores. Gerrit Bosman (Rhodes) showed that compound unlimited U16 participants can also shoot 1300s- went for gold- and got it.
The women’s compound unlimited showed some interesting results from the first to the second day with the Rhodes women battling it out. Rhodes members Robyn Martin took gold, Leanne Poole taking silver and Ettione Ferreira taking bronze, shooting a personal best on the first day.
Chris Coleman from Nyati Archery Club took gold in the Standard Bow U14 round and in the men’s standard bow division, Greg Viljoen (Rhodes) took gold and Marcel Darier (Londt Park) took silver.
“The weekend was a success and the Rhodes Archery club and NMMU would like to thank everyone who participated and a special thanks to Dave Martin for judging the competition,” concluded Ferreira.
