Bellville Sunrise 2015
10th and 11th January
The start of the year in the Western Cape is this tournament. The biggest issue I have with it is the start time. Why we have to wake up the chickens, I will never know. It was however the start of a year that promised significant escapades for archery in general and specifically for the Western Cape.
One or two clubs had already started to feedback that some members had shown an increased desire to be a part of the formal tournament schedule. This promised to deliver us with a desirable headache of cramped space in which to accommodate all entrants. Nothing wrong with a busy line.
Day 1 proved to be a very good day indeed. One or two archers could have done a bit better potentially, but the day was fairly incident free. There was a good mix of established and new archers, as well as a few that crawled back out of the woodwork to retake their place on the line.
The dreaded wind did not really make a showing during day 1, but the sun did. Bellville definitely was the place to go to for cooked archers. Most of the old hands were properly prepared for just such occasions and survived well enough to make sure of acceptable goals reached.
An archer that had been out of the loop because of medical reason, made a most welcome return to the line. Jane, it was very good to see you back and performing well. The province also made use of this opportunity to hand to Jane an award to acknowledge her achievements in Yankton where she broke some IFAA World Records and brought back gold. Well done Jane, you are an excellent example for those on the line to follow.
Day 2 also brought back a few more older hands and provided for a bumper line. The line was not quite as full as expected because there were a few late withdrawals due to injury and illness. One of those that have joined us on the line was the secretary to the provincial premier. It was most welcome when the premier wished her well when she tweeted that she was “having a blast” at the tournament. The terminology describes well what everyone’s mind-set should be when they come to a tournament, we should come to have serious fun.
This day was much busier than day 1 with rulings that had to made as well as equipment failures. Also someone remembered to bring along batteries for the flags. A bit of extra time was in order and we got through the day without to much delay.
I need to say thank you to those practised hands who assisted those among us that was a little new to the line. It made my job easy and made sure that not to much time was wasted on preventable mistakes or errors. This was also a general lesson to be learnt, if you assist – we all benefit. It is not “their” job to make a success of the tournament, it is OUR job to make a success of the tournament. Something along the lines of many hands making light work.
Thank you to the hosting club and all that pitched in. It was a huge success and bodes well for the year ahead. Let’s keep it up! The presentations was filled with a laugh or two and was enjoyed by all. A few pins and records need to be verified for scores shot during this tournament. Nicely done.
Till the next time we meet on the line, Golden Arrows to all.
Alfredo
Download a copy of the weekend’s results
