Publication: ph21032012

Archers from the Randwick Archery Club have been slinging the arrows of outrageous fortune, with some of the country’s best replicating the skill of Robin Hood or William Tell in Moera.

For the last six years club members have been shooting their arrows at a site off Randwick Rd which they have leased from Land Information New Zealand.

Club president Robin Gadd says archery is a sport for anyone. Archers can either be competitive or recreational. “We have beginners or have-a-go courses.”

The have-a go-course takes place over two hours on a Sunday morning and teaches the fundamentals of using a recurve bow. It costs $12 a session.

For those wanting to go further, the club then offers a beginners’ course. The course teaches the basics of safe shooting with a recurve bow, scoring, and different types of archery. As participants proceed through the course the coach will introduce them to techniques to improve their accuracy.

The beginners’ course costs $80 and is held over five Saturday-morning sessions.

Mr Gadd says the club can supply equipment for aspiring archers, as with bows costing up to $3500 and titanium arrows costing up to $80 each, it does not encourage them to buy their own equipment until they become serious archers.

He says there are two main types of bows – a recurve bow and a compound bow. Members shoot at targets from 30 metres to 90 metres (or 100 yards) distance.

Mr Gadd says Randwick Archery has 32 members but would like more. “Our members can be transient. We have members from England and the USA who come over here for the summer and then go home again.”

Among its members are top archers Peter Emanuel and Jimmy Smith, while Archery New Zealand patron Bernie Fraser is also a member.

Randwick Archery Club formed in 1948. For many years members would shoot at Randwick School and then at Petone College. Mr Gadd says that after the college closed, the club was asked to leave. It then moved to its present site.

For more information go to www.randwick-archery.org.nz