After a very cold and wet weekend, we have the Masters for 2020!
The year was a different and new format to previous years' Masters. Saturday was the Recurve and Longbow day, both divisions shooting 70m and Sunday was the Compound and Barebow divisions, both shooting 50m.
Saturday's qualification started off mild with a little wind and rain after the fourth dozen. As soon as the elimination round started, the rain and cold wind hit. In the recurve divisions, Bryony Pitman and Antony Wood qualified in first place with 627 and 620 respectively. Sheila Hudson and Cliff Gadd took first place in the longbows with Hudson shooting a new UK Record (to be ratified) of 386 and Gadd shooting 368.
Bryony Pitman started her path to gold with ninth seed, Hannah Rowley, in the quarter-finals, winning 6-0. Pitman continued her strong shooting from the National Tour Final losing just one match, to fourth seed Wendie King in the semi-finals to move onto the gold medal match 6-2. King shot against Eleanor Brug in the bronze medal match, with Brug taking bronze 7-1. Pitman took the gold against sixth seed Sophie Castle, 6-0.
The recurve men title went to Patrick Huston, who seeded seventh. Huston shot first against 10th seed in the 1/8 matches, winning 6-0 to head into the quarter-finals. Next, Huston faced Australian and second seed Alec Potts 6-2 to head into the semi-finals. John Prior, the third seed, won every set he shot in the 1/8 and quarterfinal matches to get him into the semi-finals against Huston. The match was won by Huston, 7-1 to head into the gold medal match with Prior going on to take bronze 6-2 over Ryan Holden. Huston won the gold 6-0 over first seed Antony Wood.
In the longbow women division, Sheila Hudson shot against fourth seed Hannah Porter in the semi-finals with second seed Sophie Twigg shooting against third seed Katrina Horton. Hudson won in straight sets to proceed to the gold medal match, with Twigg taking the match 6-4. Hudson continued her winning streak to gold after a hard-fought match, winning 6-4 over Twigg. Porter and Horton also fought hard with Porter taking the win 6-4 to take bronze.
Cliff Gadd retained his first seed position with the gold medal after winning 7-1 in the semi-finals against Andrew Wall to face Martin Bale in the gold medal match. Bale won 6-0 in the semi-finals on his path to gold taking Robert Roy to the bronze medal match. Gadd and Bale made the most of the gold medal match, taking it to 6-4, with Gadd taking the win. Andrew Wall won the bronze medal 6-0 with Roy in fourth place.
Sunday had much better weather, with a slight bitter wind, but barely any rain compared to Saturday. Ella Gibson and Adam Carpenter both qualified first in the compound division, both shooting 691. Helen Brown qualified first, with a U.K. Record (to be ratified) of 546 and Philip Shore also qualified first with 561.
Ella Gibson shot consistently throughout her matches with a 143-130 against ninth seed in the quarter-finals. Followed by a 145 to fourth seed Layla Annison's 139, taking Gibson to the gold and Annison to the bronze medal matches. Isabelle Carpenter, who ranked second in qualification made her way to the gold medal match through 143-138 against seventh seed Chloe A'Bear in the quarter-finals. A 142-135 in the semi-finals against third seed Sarah Moon. Gibson and Carpenter took the match to a shoot-off, with Gibson taking the gold X-9. Moon and Annison shot for bronze with Annison taking the medal 144-139.
The seventh seed, Rhys Harper retained his Master's title after winning 138-133 against tenth seed Andrew Pollitt in the 1/8 matches. Taking Harper to the quarter-finals where he shot against the second seed, James Beckett and taking the win to progress through to the semi-finals 143-136. Here Harper faced third seed Simon Scott, where he also took the win 147-144, putting Harper into the gold and Scott into the bronze medal matches. First seed, Adam Carpenter, also shot through to the gold medal match, shooting 146, 145, 146 to shoot against Harper. Harper took the gold 146-145 against Carpenter, with fourth seed Luke Frearson taking the bronze 144-141.
Helen Brown took the gold medal after ranking first in qualification in the barebow women category, winning the finals 6-2 against second seed Mary Louca. Louca shot against the third seed, Kim Doherty, in the semi-finals, winning 6-2, meaning Doherty took the bronze medal home.
The barebow men saw first and second seed shoot against each other for the gold medal, with Philip Shore taking the gold 6-0 against Christopher Oaten, who took silver.
Full results can be found here:
https://www.ianseo.net/Details.php?toId=7631
We would like to thank everyone who competed, volunteered and worked on the event to make sure it could happen in a COVID safe environment.
