Derbyshire Junior Archers Win EMAS Sydney Bond Memorial Trophy
The Sydney Bond is an annual event bringing together junior recurve archers from around the EMAS region to compete in a team event. This has been dominated by the larger counties, with Leicestershire & Rutland or Nottinghamshire winning ten of the last sixteen, and Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire sharing the rest. Derbyshire’s last win is buried so far back in the mists of time that even in the internet age it is hard to find out when it happened.
The counties field a team of up to seven archers, with the top three scores counting. Derbyshire’s squad comprised:
Isaac – Aequus Archers
Zac – Derwent Bowmen
Rowan – Burton Bridge Archers
Will – Derwent Bowmen
Jack – Derwent Bowmen
Eddie – Anchor Bowmen
It was lovely to welcome Isaac and Eddie to the team. These archers have not been shooting for long, and both of them came new to competition archery in 2024. They have done extremely well to justify County selection so quickly in their archery journey. Others are more experienced and have all shot the Sydney Bond before – and at the Junior Nationals this year, Zac, Rowan and Will all won medals in their age group, while Jack came 4th, so we travelled to Greasley Castle in Nottinghamshire with high hopes.
Historically, the event has been a 12-dozen Bristol shoot since its inception, but Nationals were shot during the pandemic and the round for this year was an experimental 720 – six dozen arrows at the distance appropriate to the age group. For the first time, U.21 archers were included as some counties were struggling to raise a full team, and even so Leicestershire & Rutland weren’t able to attend. This format favours the older archers, diminishing our confidence.
At half way, it was clear that our archers were shooting well. Will and Jack were having a ding-dong battle between themselves on the U.14 target, with Will slightly ahead and within the full field, second only to Notts’s U.21 National Academy archer. Jack was in third place, ahead of Lincolnshire’s U.18 academy archer. Rowan was shooting with new arrows and making them work sufficiently well that he was just six points behind Jack, and the team was in pole position, seven points ahead of Nottinghamshire. But lunch is a mixed blessing – the opportunity to refuel is also a chance to cool down and lose focus. Could we hold off Nottinghamshire in the second three dozen?
Not only did our archers achieve that, but they extended their lead. In the final analysis, we won by 47 points to register Derbyshire’s first win the Sydney Bond since who knows when. There were outstanding performances from the three whose scores went into the mix, but they don’t stand alone. In a pressure environment, it is comforting to know that there is strength in depth so that someone else can take up the slack if you have one of those inevitable off-days. Equally, future competitions can only be won if younger archers are able to experience these events without the team relying on their performance. Consequently, the entire team contributes by supporting the three whose scores go into the mix. It’s worth acknowledging the outstanding scores of the team, all of whom shot at least Bowman level. It is also worth noting that Elite Master Bowman scores are those that might allow an archer to be competitive in international competition.
Will – 625 (Elite Master Bowman)
Jack – 583 (Grand Master Bowman)
Rowan – 560 (Grand Master Bowman)
Zac – 540 (Master Bowman)
Isaac – 419 (Bowman 3rd class)
Eddie – 358 (Bowman 2nd class)
The Sydney Bond takes place as part of the EMAS Junior Intercounties team event, which includes other bowstyles. Nottinghamshire won the overall event, and we will have to look at how we bring out the best in the County’s junior compound, barebow and longbow archers to try to win the overall event in future years. Our archers in these events also acquitted themselves well, but will have benefitted most from the experience with a view to performance in coming years. Great credit is due to Willow, whose wraparound barebow rest collapsed at the start of the shoot, and who had to make do with a plastic stick-on rest, which affected everything about her setup. Nonetheless, she stuck at it showing great resilience. Baptiste agreed to represent the County despite having only recently switched to compound from recurve, in order to complete the team. In the entire EMAS region, only Northamptonshire managed to find a compound archer of either sex in the true junior age groups – all the others were in the U.21 category.
Willow – DBAC Barebow U.14: 161 (1st Class Archer)
Thomas – DBAC Longbow U.12: 103 (Bowman 2nd Class)
Baptiste – Aequus U.21 Compound: 390
– Phil Challen
DCAA Junior Team Selector
