On the weekend of the 7th-8th August, 14 BHAA members from across the UK (and a guest from Ireland) met for the BHAA’s 2010 British Horseback Archery Championships. The event was hosted by the Centre of Horseback Combat in East Sussex.

Prior to competition day, competitors had time to warm-up, get their eyes in, try out and pick horses and of course catch-up with one another. Despite the odd shower, spirits were high as the grounds were prepared for the big day. An evening briefing, a good meal and fireside banter relaxed everyone for what became a fantastic day ahead.

Glorious sunshine met the campers on competition day and soon enough the track was melting under beating hooves and whistling arrows. A Reuters journalist and cameraman, plus plenty of keen photographers, caught the action which involved competitors batlling it out in the Korean style as well as the BHAA’s “hunting” style.

The Korean track involved all competitors running down a 90m track shooting at one, two and then three targets to the left of track. A 12 second time penalty saw points deducted which kept competitors on their toes. After its completion all competitors then had 2 runs in the hunting or ‘Hunt the Hare’ competition. The Hare (centre-stage above) had a small kill zone in which riders had to hit. In one of the most exciting finales, probably never to be witnessed again, Gokmen Altinkulp went face to face with Sheffield’s Damian Stenton in a “shoot-out”. With previous hits being rare, everyone was astonished to see Gokmen smack an arrow into the kill zone on his run. The crowd had prepared for the visiting guest to receive congratulations when Damian’s arrow smacked in even closer to the centre spot!

Overall winners were Neil Payne (combined Korean scores) and Damian Stenton (Hunt the Hare). Results can be downloaded here > 2010 Results.

All would agree the event was a huge success. It saw many new members competing for the first time, the development of the sport furthered and the continuation of the horseback archery family’s growth in the UK.

Watch some video of the event > 2010 Championships Video

The BHAA Championships is an annual event. Want to compete in 2011? Then join up ASAP!

The end of the 2010 competition circuit saw the BHAA represented at two major international competitions. Claire (pictured above) and Dan Sawyer took part in EOCHA (the European Championship, held in Brussels this year) in September. Only their second ever competition saw them test their skills against some of the world’s best horseback archers. The experience will be invaluable for their future progress so watch this space!

Jehad Shamis and Neil Payne attended the Mounted Archery Championships in Oregon, USA which was run by Dr Holm Neumann and MA3. Attended by competitors from Poland, Malaysia, Japan, Germany, South Korea and of course our American cousins the event was the first of its kind for many years in the US. The event drew a huge crowd on day one and a decent crowd on day two and without doubt has ignited an interest in the local people for horseback archery.No medals for the British team however it has certainly galvinised a determination to train hard and start bringing home some trophies!

A full write up on boths event will be published in the next edition of the BHAA’s newsletter, The Parthian Shot.

Turkey recently hosted its first international horseback archery (and Cirit competition) in the Anatolian city of Sivas.

Two members of the BHAA were invited and attended; they were joined by colleagues from Iran, Poland, Germany, Korea, Hungary and of course Turkey.

There will be a full write up of the event in the November issue of our newsletter The Parthian Shot. To subscribe please email us and add “Newsletter” to the subject line.

In short, the Turkish hosts used the opportunity to show case two new (yet old) styles of competition – 1) Qabaq and 2) a new style of course named the “Mamluk style”.

Qabaq is a very old horseback archery game with roots in Turkey, Egypt, Iran, Persia and India. Termed “gourd-shooting” in English is essentially involves galloping past a mast (around 6-8 metres high) and hitting a target. The picture of two Mamluk Faris below should give you an idea of what its about.

To view the scores of the competition please click > Qabaq Scores 2009

The Mamluk style competition was an new invention but based on old Mamluk furusiyya scripts which described the basic shots any Faris had to master in order to be classed as decent. Similar to the “Korean style” course however there was one target on the “wrong” side of the track (meaning the rider had to shoot over the horse’s head) plus the targets moved position after each run to properly test each riders’ archery skills.

To view the scores of the Mamluk competition click > Mamluk Scores 2009

The BHAA would like to extend its thanks to the organisers for their amazing hospitality. We hope to visit you again next year!

Videos:

Some footage from the event up at Turk.net

Youtube.com > Qabaq champion Simone Fezer

Youtube.com > Turkish rider  Gökmen Altınkulp

International Cirit Match > Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3

Photos:

Check out TurkishArchery.info