Once again, our Lady members showed us how it should be done at this year’s Hampshire County Championships which were held at the Waterside range near Exbury Gardens!
Saturday dawned wet and windy and the conditions deteriorated all day! The morning’s Ranking Round resulted in a clean sweep for our Lady Compounds as Sophie Meyrick took 1st place, just 1 point clear of Ruth Watson in 2nd with Vicky Loader a further 4 points back in 3rd. All three girls made it through to the semi finals where a release aid malfunction that luckily only resulted in a bruised lip for Ruth was the difference between her and Vicky. Sophie was triumphant in the Gold Medal match with Vicky taking Silver and Ruth bouncing back to win the Bronze. A second clean sweep for Andover!
To put Sophie’s victory into perspective, we should all remember that she is still a junior taking on very experienced senior archers. It was pure coincidence that Saturday was Sophie’s 16th Birthday which made the victory an awesome birthday present!
Sunday saw the bad weather continuing with torrential rain in the morning and high winds with fearsome gusts chilling every archer to the bone. This was the actual Championship day and once again, it was 3 Ladies from Andover who took the honours. Vicky Loader became the Senior Lady Compound County Champion with Sophie Meyrick becoming Junior Lady Compound County Champion. The hat trick was completed when Sassy Meyrick won the title of Junior Lady Recurve County Champion.
Congratulations also to Geoff Cooper who shot in the Gent’s Compound on Saturday and to Abi Creese and Charlotte Williams who took part in the Junior Recurve on Sunday. A marvellous performance from all three archers who never gave up and braved the bad weather to complete the shoot!
