DCA Western, 2009

If shooting in the longbow was only about numerical results, today's event at Dunkeld Park would barely have registered on the Richter scale. For reasons best known to Cupid and Diana, our arrows were not flying as true as they might. On one or two occasions, the writer did notice that the bulk of the arrows were clustering to the left while shooting down the way, suggesting that the light south-easterly was making more of an impact than might have been anticipated at ground level, whereas, shooting up the way, the arrows seemed to be more evenly spread. Indeed, with the steep banks and forestry, the path of the air currents can at times be difficult to read especially on a day when the temperature soared into the early twenties and, unusual for this time of year at Dunkeld, the archers had to contend with dehydration and increased muscle fatigue. Fortunately, however, even if the weather was playing its part on our modest performance, it was also responsible for enriching the beauty of the fresh spring landscape which could hardly have been more glorious. With

the trees standing proud in their bright green foliage and the bluebells and bracken vying for prime position in the rolling parkland, we were certainly blessed to shoot against such a magnificent backdrop. We were equally fortunate to be shooting amongst friends, all with a passion for the longbow, who had travelled some distance both from Glasgow and Inverness. Naturally, we would all like to shoot a personal best in public but it is often the more general aspects of a day's shooting which really make the day one to be remembered as opposed to the scores we either did acquire or, more commonly, might have acquired had all things been equal which they seldom are when shooting in the longbow. As organiser of this event, I hope all the participants enjoyed the day as much as I did and will return to Dunkeld for one of our future events.

Prizes were awarded to the following:

Baron Lush for the most hits 80, 324, 5

Barbara Campbell for the best score 67, 291, 5

Bill Campbell for the most golds 65, 269, 6

and

Baron Lush and Barbara Campbell shared the inner/compound gold sweep with one hit apiece

Further photos can be viewed in the gallery