This weekend was the 4th stage of the GB national series at Andover. I love this tournament and have shot many PBs here including my 1400 last year.

The weather on the ladies range was excellent. On the Saturday i shot well - 1399. Sunday just went even better and I finished with 1410! A new national record by 7 points!

This also included 70m national record - 349 (equalling the European record), 60m national record - 356 (equalling the European record), long metric national record 705 and the double fita national record of 2809.

I won this leg of the GB Series :-)

Shot really well in the wind this weekend - 1380 fita in 40kph winds at the long metric!!

The Saturday included the English Champs - I am English National Champion.

I also won the double fita, winning the 3rd stage of the GB series!

I will be representing England at the Commonwealth Games in India, in October!!

I shot really well at the selection shoot a couple weeks ago, including a 697 fita 720 (just 4 points off my PB which equalled the world record last year!)

Really excited - its going to be a great experience!

The team is Nichola Simpson and Dani Brown

The new world rankings are out and I am now number 2 in the world! This is my highest ranking ever and I am really pleased!

www.archery.org

(top right click results, then world ranking)

We shot the new 50m system in Turkey. 6 doz at 50m to qualify. I was 11th after this. It was then the new hit/miss face at 50m. I had a bye first round, the 2nd round was tight - going to a tie. My hit to her miss - I was through. I then took out a Turkish archer, and into the 4th round against Jamie Van Natta. We had a fairly close match but I won! In the semi's I was up against Wallace of Canada (who beat me in the Gold match in Croatia). We shot this match in the finals venue. I managed to get my own back! I was through to my 2nd World Cup Gold medal match this year! I was against Erika of USA in the final. I won the first set and then we tied but she came back to beat me. She has shot great all week - well done to Erika. The 3rd stage is in Ogden, USA in the 1st week of August!

In the last week in May I went to the Europeans. It was a lovely venue, we had mountains all around, but that lead to changeable weather conditions! It was windy all week. I qualified in 10th. I had a bye 1st round and my 2nd match was tight - we tied the first set, and then won one each. It went to the shoot off - my 10 to her 9! The 3rd round was easier - I won 2 sets out right. In the 4th round i was up against Gladys Willems. We tied 2, and she won 2. We both shot good scores - she only beat me by 1 point on those 2 sets! So I finished 7th overall.

The team did fairly well - we made it to the Bronze match but Russia are really strong this year and they took the medal.

Last week i was at the first world cup of the year in Croatia. Ive been shooting really well leading up to this and it continued throughout the week. I qualified well on the 720 with 681 in gusty conditions which qualified me 4th (top ladies score 689).

Chris White and I shot in the mixed team and we did fairly well. 16 teams went into the cut and we ended up 4th missing out to the USA who shot a world record score against us!!

In the individual eliminations I did really well - I went through to the Gold match knocking out the world number 1 Camila Soemod on the way!

The Gold match was against Ashley Wallace of Canada - she shot really well. With the new set system she was beating me 5-1. I dug deep - and pulled it back to 5-5....down to a one arrow shoot off! Ashley got me - her 10 to my 9.

I have shot really well and am really pleased - a medal at the 1st world cup is a fantastic start!! Next up....The Europeans in Italy in 2 weeks!

In the first week of March I was out in Delhi with the England team for the Commonwealth Games test event. It was a difficult decision to make whether to go, as previous trips to India have given team mates stomach bugs. I decided going to the actual venue of the Commonwealth Games was going to be worth it, and shooting at 70m in 30 degrees in March would also be nice!

The qualificaton round (fita 720) went really well. It was gusty and having not shot at all in the wind since last season, i was pleased with 681 which qualified me 1st.

The h2hs were more gusty. I had a bye first round and then won my 2nd round. In the 3rd round i was caught by the wind and unlucky to miss out, i finished 5th overall.

The team round went well. We qualified in 1st and had a bye 1st round. We shot against Malaysia in the semis which we won by 5 points. In the finals we were against the Indians. We started off well, but then fell behind going into the last end. We each shot 10, 10, 10 and the Indians could only manage a draw!

In the 1 arrow shoot off we again shot - 10, 10, 10! Their first arrow was an 8 and it was all over! Team Gold!

I really enjoyed the experience of India and being at the venue for the actual games was a great benefit.

Im not a lover of the indoor season and Im pleased we are now into outdoor! Ive been training in the cold outside since I got back from Vegas and Im now at the CWGs test event in India...will let you know how it goes!

We are hosting the Ipswich International on 19-20th September. Its a WRS FITA 720 and set format head to heads. It unique for the h2hs (this format is going to FITA this year and could be implemented internationally by next year) AND its a non-profit making shoot - ALL of the money is going into the prize pot for the archers.

We have major sponsors on board such as Easton (who are giving away arrows to the winners) and Winners choice and more. There will also be scattered random prizes through all categories.

Check out-
www.deben-archery.org.uk

ENTER NOW!