On the 21st June, we held our marathon shoot, in aid of the Hampshire and Isle of Wight air ambulance. Over the course of 24 hours, 36 club members, aged between - well, Daisy & Eric - shot a total of 256 “Frostbite" rounds. Temperatures dropped to 9 degrees overnight, which didn’t stop the shooting – the best score for a recurve archer was shot at 2am by Jodie, setting a score that Richard just couldn't beat! Others huddled around the firepit, fuelled by Tea/Coffee and huge quantities of cake. We had aimed to reach a cumulative total of 20,000 points, but we smashed it - this target was reached after only seven hours; the final total was 59,545. The event has raised over £2000

During the evening, Craig Ballantine, shooting compound scored a near perfect 358. Jodie Buckner (U15) shooting recurve shot an amazing 334 at 2am. Mark Davies took the Longbow high score of 190, Bill Jones, shooting barebow scored 305 and Dave Giddings scored 89 with his horsebow.

To put into perspective the effort involved, every arrow shot involves pulling the bow string back, which ‘weighs’ anywhere between 18 – 60lbs depending on the bow, holding that weight whilst aiming, then releasing. Jo for instance, using her 30lb longbow shot 22 frostbites (792 arrows) over the 24 hours, which adds up to over 10 tonnes! Taking an average bow weight, this means the club pulled a total of around 125 tonnes!