Gloucestershire Archery Society Western & Welsh Counties Events

The Western and Welsh Counties is Comprised of Four Events

1) The Indoor County Mixed Team Championships

2) The County Mixed Team and Open WA720 & H2H

3) Senior Inter-County Round Robin Practice

4) Junior Inter-County Round Robin Practice

Western & Welsh Counties evolved from discussions begun in 2019 to establish the County Indoor Mixed Team Championships. As expressions of interest were confirmed by Gloucestershire's neighbouring counties, and the necessary permissions secured from county committees, any forward momentum was stalled by Covid for the next two years. The event was then postponed in 2023 due to scheduling conflicts, but finally went ahead on March 9, 2024. Five counties were represented at the inaugural event as both senior and junior archers were offered a new and unique opportunity to compete in a mixed team format.

Over the same time period, Gloucestershire tested the waters by introducing two round robin practices to our county team training programme in 2022. By the following year, we expanded the junior and senior Round Robins as other county teams were invited, to markedly improved benefits. We had over 30 archers attending our first Inter-County Junior Round Robin practice in April of 2023 and over 40 archers for the Senior practice in May that same year. Due to the larger field of participants, we were able to offer dedicated groups for all bow types, better competition and a vastly improved training tool.

By the end of 2023, plans had begun to introduce one final new team tournament to the calendar, and that was the County Mixed Team and Open WA720 & H2H. This format is identical to Day 2 of the National County Team Championships and offers a rare opportunity to build and practice mixed team skills, as well as potentially prepare archers for the national team championships.

In honour of the continued and growing inter-county collaboration between Gloucestershire and its neighbours, this series of inter-county practices and tournaments became “Western & Welsh Counties” events. We are delighted and proud to have the support and participation of the neighbouring counties of Glamorgan, Gwent, Oxfordshire, Somerset, Warwickshire and Worcestershire. There are a number of additional counties beyond our immediate vicinity who have shown an interest in the above events and are included in our email notices and news. We welcome any new counties in the geographic west side of England and in Wales who would like to get involved.

County Mixed Team Indoor Championships:

The inaugural event was held at Hartpury University in Gloucester on March 9, 2024. The unique format was the result of a brain-storming session between Deer Park’s Roger Crang (Director of Development), and Tournament Organisers Steve Mason and Peter Sisson.

Categories are offered for Junior and Senior teams for every bow type. Each team consists of 3 archers per bow type and must contain a mix of genders, either 2 men and one woman or, 2 women and one man. The only exception is the Junior Longbow Team which only requires 2 archers of any gender. Counties can enter more than one team per discipline, but only the highest scoring team's points contribute towards the team total.

Points are awarded to each mixed team of three, depending on the number of teams fielded per discipline. For example, five county senior recurve teams would be awarded 1 to 5 points, as per their ranking, with the full 5 points going to first place, 4 points for second place and so on. If only three counties field a particular discipline, then only 1 to 3 points would be awarded. The accumulated points awarded for each category are added together to determine the overall champion.

County Mixed Team and Open WA720 & H2H:

Teams are comprised of 2 archers, one of each gender. County team pairings must be identified by county team managers prior to the tournament. Open archers who do not have a partner will be allocated one based on their qualification score, with the highest scoring unallocated archers being placed together.

There are no separate rounds for juniors, although juniors are welcome to shoot on par with senior archers. Distances are WA50m for Barebow and Compound, and WA70m for Recurve and Longbow. 50+ age group shoots at full senior distances.

Championship trophies and medals from first to third place will be offered for each discipline.

Round Robin Practices:

There are two Round Robin practices that are offered, one exclusively for juniors, and one for seniors and any of the stronger juniors.

Archers are assigned to a group according to their bow type and will shoot in a H2H format. Based on a pre-arranged rota, there are no eliminations and everyone gets a chance to spend the same amount of time on the shooting line. If we have time, we may add knock outs at the end. Groups will be limited to no more than 6.

Depending on the numbers for each bow type, we may need to mix disciplines. If this is the case, then a handicap system will be used.

For the junior round robin, we feel that it is less important to have them stretch for their longest distance but rather to simply focus on H2H skills, especially as this practice is held very early in the outdoor season. We would like the juniors themselves to choose a distance that they feel most comfortable with prior to assigning them to a group.

Invitations are sent to county team managers, who will either organise their attending archers themselves or share the practice information with their county and individuals can contact our T.O. directly.

Dates for 2026:

The Western and Welsh Counties is Comprised of Four Events