Field day for Folkard

30 April 2008

LEAMINGTON recurve archer Naomi Folkard stepped up her claim for a place in the Great Britain team to compete in the World Field Championships, later this year, by winning the Pentref Spring Field tournament at Glynornel in South Wales over the weekend.
The two day competition, with 24 targets each day, involved unmarked distances on Saturday and marked on Sunday.
Since last season the international scoring system has changed. Records were therefore vulnerable and, true to form, Folkard set a new national record for the unmarked round by scoring 343 points, to break her own record of 339.
Folkard’s score of 322 for the marked distances on Sunday was slightly disappointing but, with a combined total of 665, it easily gave her first place ahead of Amy Oliver (Dearne Valley) 643 and Michelle Kiddy (Dearne Valley) 587.
Folkard’s 665 converts back to 627 in the old scoring system, easily breaking the qualifying score for the World Field Championships of 564.
The complicated selection process for the GB team involves attaining a number of minimum score levels in given time periods at specific venues.
Folkard, primarily a target archer, is currently training hard for the Beijing Olympics and therefore has very limited opportunities to participate in field tournaments. However, with a minimal number of tournaments under her belt, she currently heads the selection table and needs to shoot a qualifying score at just one more competition before July.
She took the bronze medal at the last World Championship in 2006 and, now more experienced in field archery, hopes to improve on this.

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