The winners of the third National Tour stage for 2023 at the UK Masters are named
A very hot Lilleshall played host to 2023’s third stage of the National Tour on Saturday. The day saw some familiar names take to the podium as well as some new faces.
The top seed for the compound men was stage one winner Ajay Scott with 695. Neil Bridgewater was just behind in 2nd place also on 695 points. Three-time consecutive National Tour Final winner, Adam Carpenter, won his first stage gold medal today. He shot against Lewis Haslam in the final, winning 145-141. For the bronze, 1st seed Ajay took the win over Neil with a two point difference, 147-145.
Adam said: "I've done well at the stages but just never had that first place, so it's nice to get that today."
On the women’s side, Hallie Boulton took 1st place after qualification with 693. In the matches, 3rd ranked Izzy Carpenter shot through to the gold final where she faced Vicky Loader and took the win with 147-144. The fight for the bronze medal went all the way to a 142-142 shoot-off between 5thranked Lizzie Foster and 7th ranked Amy Wakefield. Amy shot a 10 to Lizzie’s 8, earning herself her first National Tour stage podium finish.
Leading the men’s qualification was Conor Hall with a 649 finish. In the gold final, Tom Hall shot against 9th seeded Michael Judd, where he won the match with a close 6 set points to 4. The bronze final was between 5th ranked Roger Castillo-Alquezar and 2nd ranked Steve Davies. This was another close 6-4 match for the men, and it was Roger who came out victorious.
Tom told us: "This is the first stage win I've had in a little while, and I feel like I had a point to prove today and I'm getting closer to doing it."
Sarah Bettles took the top spot in the women’ rankings with 641 points. She then made her way into the gold final against 6th ranked Sophie Meering. They took the match to a shoot-off, and it was Sarah who won with a 9 to Sophie’s 7. In the bronze final, 2nd seed Yulia Hinckley won against 4th seed Megan Havers 6-4.
John Walsh took 1st place in the qualification for the barebow men with 611 points. The head-to-heads saw some new faces make it through to the finals, including 10th ranked James Hayday. This was James’s first National Tour stage, and he won the gold final, beating Anthony Gedalovitch 6-4. 11th seed Daniel Kilgallon took the bronze medal against 8th ranked Trevor Carr with a 7-1 finish.
For the women, Sarah Hubbard qualified 1st with 628 points, breaking her own UK record. She then went on to win her second consecutive stage this year with a 6-4 finish over 11th ranked Sandrine Fabris. 2nd seeded Patricia Hotchkiss took the bronze medal against 4th ranked Ellie Spinks in a close match with 6-4.
Sarah said: "It was a really good qualification. I managed to up my own record, so it felt really good. Chasing other records, but I'll start with this one."
The next stage will take place at the Surrey Archery Weekend on 8-9 July. For all the scores from this weekend see the link here.
