Madame Skorupska Tournament 2015
5th September, Protea Sports Club
There is always a growing excitement when this time of year rolls around. This Protea Sports Club hosted event always draws a good response from across the province, which is a testament to the popularity of Madame Skorupska and the legacy she left behind. Last year presented a weather challenge and forced us all indoor. However, our request for brilliant shooting conditions were heard and a beautiful day greeted all this first Saturday in September 2015.
The club was conservative in targets set up for the day, but very quickly they were compelled to open more butts for shooting positions to become available. Some butts were forced to carry 4 archers, but with the good spirit present, the compact space was not much of a problem. Practice started before the official 13H00 time set as the field was ready and the archers had arrived. So it was a relaxed group that started shooting with a nice strong sun shine warming the winter joints.
Target allocation was by personal choice, and it was a good mix of experience and novice that slotted themselves in on the available spots. There were a few butts with 6 ring faces for those who might end up killing someone else’s arrows if they shot to the same gold. But the focus was firmly on having fun and making sure that total novices felt as part of the event as the more experienced. In general most people respected the “Please wear red and white” call and the line had a festive air.
It was disappointing that there were some absences of a usually present nature, but that is something beyond our control. The smile on the line made up for it. Just before scoring arrows the pre-tournament talk highlighted Madame Skorupska’s contribution by way of an article penned by another Western Cape stalwart Martin Trimmer. Then everyone grabbed their score boards and score sheets (with 2 photographs of Madame Skorupska) and made their way to their target.
On the whole the event went off without much of a hitch. 2 Equipment failures were quickly dealt with, but no serious mishaps occurred. The focus was on having some serious, safe fun. A few of the archers were aiming for the tournament trophy which would be awarded to the archer with the most 10’s+X’s. There was a trophy for compound and one for recurve. As is the custom every competitor gets a commemorative pin.
The tournament champ was Phillip De Lange, with the recurve trophy going to Shawn Lawrence. For me as the field captain, my biggest trophy were the brilliant smiles on the faces of the archers as they received their pins. (My own score was not to brilliant.) I wish that we could have the same spirit at ALL our events across this beautiful country. It is a brilliant sport for all to enjoy.
We had more than a few spectators, and that just added to the festive nature of the day. Thank you Protea for hosting another brilliant event. Thank you to all that set up the field and packed up everything afterwards. The person winding up the rope should have been more careful. Rope burns are not fun.
It was a contented bunch that made their way home, I am sure to enjoy some well deserved refreshments.
Till the next time we meet on the line, Golden Arrows to all.
For more pictures from the event, please visit our Facebook Page.
Download a copy of this weekend’s results
Alfredo lobo das Neves