Well, we’ve passed the halfway mark of the 2019/20 Indoor Postals, so you should all know what this is about. But for those who don’t, this report focuses on the club’s progress in the County Postal Leagues as well as in-house competitions, such as the Tavistock Trophy and Grand Prix… and the January Challenge (sort of – see below).

The majority of the material below focuses on results from January. However, because of the timing of the Grand Prix, I have also included the February progress from that.

DCAS Indoor Postals (Portsmouth) – January

For those unfamiliar with the format; Archers shoot a Portsmouth round under competition conditions and the top three scores for each bow type form a team (and the following archers form the ‘B team’, ‘C team’, etc if a club enters multiple teams). These scores are sent to DCAS and clubs compete against each other from November to March.

In January, we won two of our matches (Recurve B and Compound) and lost three (Recurve A, C and Longbow). Below are the results tables from DCAS and a table that I keep myself for progress within the club. Take a look and see how you/we did.

Please continue to provide scores, even if you don’t feel that you will make the teams. A low score is better than a zero and if there is illness, etc then even the newest member could potentially make the team.

DCAS Outdoor Postals (Frostbite) – January

The Frostbite teams are selected in the same way as the Portsmouth, with the top three scores forming each team. As with the Indoor Postal, archers shoot a Frostbite round and the top three scores form a team. Unlike the Portsmouth, teams are not bow specific (with the exception of the new Longbow team). Archers from any bow style can contribute to the teams, although there is a maximum of one Compound allowed per team.

In January we won all three of our matches. Below are the results tables from DCAS as well as the table that I keep myself. Take a look and see how you/we did.

Please continue to provide scores, even if you don’t feel that you will make the teams. A low score is better than a zero and if there is illness, etc then even the newest member could potentially make the team.

Yelverton Bowmen Grand Prix – February

The Grand Prix is new this year and has been well received. Each month, a different round is shot, with the scores being adjusted by the members’ handicaps (November was a WA18, December a WA25, January a Worcester and February a Vegas). In the table below, the first column for each month is the actual score entered. The second column is the adjusted score. In theory, if a person shoots a score in keeping with their handicap, they will receive an adjusted score of 1440.

The nature of the competition means that nothing is set in stone. Somebody currently near the bottom of the rankings could leap towards the top if they score sufficiently better than their handicap in a future round.

Yelverton Bowmen Tavistock Trophy – January

The Tavistock Trophy is an internal competition run using the scores entered in the Indoor Postal. The highest cumulative score for each category over the five months wins. In the event of a category only having a single participant, they will be included in the most appropriate alternative (normally forming a unisex bow category).

At present the categories are Gents Barebow, Ladies Barebow, Compound (unisex), Longbow (unisex), Gents Recurve and Ladies Recurve. The current standings can be seen on the table below.

January Challenge

I have received the first draft results of the January Challenge. However, I won’t be publishing them this month. The organiser has been in touch to inform me that the results form was inaccurate and the ‘Novice’ category should have been for members who joined since January 2019 (not January 2018 as was stated on the form). This means that half of the novices I entered should actually be in the experienced category. I have sent the requested corrections and hope to have the finalised results in time for the next report.