Bend, OR: Competitive Edge Classic

On January 3rd and 4th, the AFC shooters went to Bend, OR to participate in the Competitive Edge Classic. This is the first year they've opened up a recurve division, so we were part of a small group of recurve archers (compared to the compound numbers).

Saturday, January 3rd :  Day 1

We all shot the same line times, 9:00am and 3:00pm, which was really nice for encouragement and fteam unity as well as sticking together with our fellow recurve shooters. We shot 2 scores on the  FITA target face, each compiled of 10 ends of 3 arrows. (If you haven't read our "How Scoring Works" post yet, head over there to learn more.) There was, however, something a bit different about this competition. Since in the past it has been only compound shooters, they changed up the scoring a bit.  Instead of the 10 and 10X being the highest scoring zones, both giving the shooter 10 points, they added a point to the "X" ring. With the "X" ring now having a value of 11, it creates less ties for compound shooters (because let's face it, they hardly ever miss the 10). It means that those who are hitting the tiny little "X" ring more often are going to have a higher score than those who are hitting 10 ring the same amount of times. It's basically awarding their extreme accuracy.

The unfortunate thing is that this altered scoring doesn't help recurve shooters at all when we're put up against compound shooters. A skilled recurve shooter might hit the same amount or more 10s with their skinny little arrows than a compound shooter hits with their giant logs, but if all the compound shooter's 10s were Xs (which is easier the bigger the arrows are), then they score higher. This happened with one of our shooters on day 2. He would have won his elimination match if the standard USA Archery scoring had been followed. But this just creates a greater challenge for us recurve shooters and a bigger goal to reach; when you shoot a 10, make sure it's the X.

Regardless of the scoring challenges, this was such a fun tournament to be at. After our first score at 9:00am, which ended at about 10:30am, we stashed our bows and equipment inside a baracade we made with our cases. We all went to a local dive bar and ate a delicious breakfast. After that, we came back to the venue and watched other archers compete at their line times until it was our turn again. We shot our second score at 3:00pm, which provided 2 scores to be averaged. Once all the scores had been averaged, the archers were placed into flights for day 2.

Brandon hiding out in the "Recurve Barricade"

Sunday, January 4th : Day 2

Each flight consisted of 8 archers who would compete in elimination brackets. The flights were mixed flights, meaning they included both men and women and had no separation of shooting divisions. It was based solely on the raw scores from day 1. Each archer has 2 targets, one above the other, and they shoot 6 arrows - 3 arrows into each target. The archers in the flights shoot all at the same time, and are given 4 minutes to shoot their 6 arrows. After scoring those arrows, they shoot another 6 arrows, and those scores determine the winner of the match.

Brandon was in the 3rd flight, and Adam was in the 4th flight. They were both the only recurve shooters in their flights. Chelsea was in the 6th flight, which contained 3 other recurve shooters. Shooting started with the lower flights at 8:00am. Chelsea got second place in her flight, losing the final match against one of Brandon's students. Adam and Brandon's flights shot at 8:45am, and they both unfortunately lost their first match against compound shooters. They both, however, still had the Recurve Championship matches to look forward to.

Chelsea and Ben facing off in the Recurve Championship

Brandon and Adam facing off for 1st Place

The championships were shot by the top 4 archers in each division based on their average from day 1. For the recurve division, those 4 archers were, in order of place: Brandon, Adam, Ben (one of Brandon's students), and Chelsea. The championship flights were shot in a different style than the mixed flights. They were shot in what is called a "shoot up". 4th and 3rd place go head to head first. The winner of that match shoots against 2nd place, then the winner of that match shoots against the top archer, battling for 1st place. They shoot alone on the line, side by side, with all eyes on them. So much pressure! The targets are set up the same way as the mixed flights, with one on top, one on bottom, the archers shooting 3 arrows into each target, and doing this twice. In the head to head matches, the archers shoot one at a time, back and forth, and are allotted 30 seconds for each arrow. The archer with the higher raw score of the two chooses which target to shoot and whether to go first or second. Ben and Chelsea shot first, their scores tying in the first end. Ben came out on top in the second end, and went on to shoot against Adam. Adam won that match, and went on to shoot against Brandon for 1st place. It was really cool to see two good friends shooting against each other for the championship title. The pressure was there and the energy in the room was so high. Brandon won the match and later wielded the championship bowl.

A good podium finish for AFC Archers Brandon(1st)  and Adam (2nd).  Good job Ben! (3rd)

Immediately after the awards were finished, we all jumped into our cars and caravanned through the dark over the snowy pass to our homes in Portland, OR.

We all loved this experience, and hope to get even more archers from our area to compete next year, with a specific goal to expand the recurve division even more. Archery is our life and our passion, and the more people we get involved and help fall in love with the sport, the better.

Vegas is only one week away, and we're all training hard to be ready to shoot our best. We continue with weekly league, which will end next Sunday.  Check out who our Archers are shooting for by visiting the AFC Archers page and don't forget to pledge!

The AFC Team at the Competitive Edge Classic

~ Chelsea and the AFC Team