Green Outstanding In Archery Championships

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31277, 25 January 1967, Page 11

Green Outstanding In Archery Championships

rpHE national archery A championships at Petone this month will be remembered principally for the outstanding form of the Christchurch Archery Club’s master archer, F. W. Green. In capturing the open and limited flight titles on the Wednesday, Green became only the second New Zealander to gain merit pins for performances in both events.

The New Zealand Archery Association’s merit pins are awarded in recognition of a distance of more than 550 yards being reached in competition with a bow requiring 501 b or more for a full draw (open) and for the attainment of 500 yards with less than a 501 b draw (limited).

The only other New Zealand archer to have been awarded merit pins for both flight events is the veteran Aucklander, J. Hinchco, who Green beat by five yards in the limited competition. Green, who beat Hinchco’s New Zealand and national tournament open record at Hag ley Park last year, added nearly 100 yards to his own mark in retaining his record last week with a distance of 683 yards 7 inches. The Christchurch team of three concentrated on flight (long distance) shooting at the championships and the result was that Green and his club-mate, R. J. Smales, became the first archers to exceed 600 yards in a national championship. Green was over this mark with five of his six arrows and Smales extended it once. Their success was fully deserved, for the trio (the third man was K. Day, who was not placed) had been practising during the evenings for 10 hours a week, in addition to their normal Saturday competition. However, the man to whom both archers could attribute much of their success remained behind in Christchurch.

Both men used bows made by D. Campbell, a fellow member of the Christchurch Archery Club and

four-times winner of the national open flight title. The debt of gratitude is the greater, and acknowledged as such, by Green. Green attended the 1962 national championship at Lower Hutt with the intention of competing in the target and clout. He knew nothing of flight shooting, but on the morning of that competition, Campbell, who was defending his open title, gave Green “a few instructions” and persuaded him to enter. At which Green showed his gratitude by winning the title with a highly creditable 558 yards. Campbell won the title back in 1963, lost it to Hinchco the following year, and won it again in 1965. He did not compete last week.

After he won his first title seven years ago, Green corresponded regularly with H. Drake, the American professional bowyer who was later to become the world record bolder and the only person to fire an arrow more than 1000 yards. At his three subsequent nationals (he did not enter at Gisborne in 1965), Green continued to use bows manufactured by Campbell, but by the 1966 championship he had acquired a bow designed and recommended by Drake.

The bow, considerably lighter and easier to draw than the old hunter type which often required a pull in excess of 1251 b, was known as true centre shot bow. Its chief variance from the hunter bow was the hole in the handle section

through which the arrow was drawn and fired. Most of the arrows Green has used at his five Dominion championships were made by Campbell. “The arrow is the real key to gaining long distance,” Green said. The arrows, usually about 19 inches long and weighing not much more than 120 grains, are polished to a high sheen prior to a competition. If the arrow is not correctly “spined” to a bow, it will, if too flexible, vibrate and lose velocity or, if too stiff and heavy will not reach the required velocity. The arrow which set the record at Petone was one of those made by Campbell. A month ago, the fibre glass in Green’s new truecentre bow fractured. With the nationals three weeks away, the bow was glued and braced, but the fibre glass continued to fracture. There were very few truecentre bows in New Zealand and the only near-replica in Canterbury was owned by Campbell. Immediately it was offered to Green; the offer was accepted and Green, who was able to summon the pulling weight of 781 b, added nearly 100 yards to his previous year’s mark which had broken the national record of Hinchco—a record which had stood since the mid-19505. Smales also had cause to appreciate Campbell’s generosity after his self-made bow, also of Drake’s design, had been deemed unsuitable because of unmatured glue joints. Using a Campbell

bow, Smales was runner-up to Green. Green said he got his greatest satisfaction from winning the limited flight title. The win was totally unexpected for he was competing for only the second time at a national level and the title holder was Hinchco who had won the title 12 times since 1954.

Although a good degree of strength is needed to draw an arrow back 22 inches in a men’s flight competition, there is more to it than that.

"The other major requirements are having the bow on an angle of 45 degrees for getting maximum distance and getting out of bed at 5 a.m. in time for the competition something which some of this year’s entrants were not able to do,” Green said. The 5 a.m. start was necessary to “have the sun lifting the atmosphere,” while at that time there was usually no wind. Green explained. The national competitions are held at near sea level, a factor which is not conducive to flight shooting. Drake has set his phenomenal records at high altitudes. Green, whose mark of 683 yd 7in last week was a New Zealand as well as a national record, hopes to extend his New Zealand record later this year. With a Dunedin friend, he intends doing a spot of mountaineering in Cromwell In quest of a record of 800—or more—yards.