Saturday 11th April saw Scottish Archery begin their selection process for the Samoa 2015 Commonwealth Youth Games, with a qualification shoot in Kilmarnock aimed at aiding selectors to find the young archers who will represent Youth Team Scotland.
In the boys’ event, top ranked junior Struan Caughey won, beating Scottish U18 Champion Aidan Hughes. Born in Elgin, Struan first tried archery at a ‘come and try’ event at Chatsworth Fair which led to him joining his local club. The 16 year old has gone from strength to strength ever since, now ranked second in the UK in his age group last year and representing Great Britain at the Seoul International Junior Festival in Korea.
The girls’ event was also a competitive affair with the top two archers boasting impressive résumés. The winner was Evelina D’Arcy, a consistent member of the Scottish Junior team for the past two years and winner of the 2014 Archery GB Talent Festival. Fife teenager Emma McLachlan, a past winner of the UK Junior Field Archery Championships, took second place.
The results of this shoot form one component of the archery selection process with archers submitting at least one score from outdoor competition this year and results from 2014 also being taken into account. There are two places available for Archery on Youth Team Scotland with the final date for submitting scores being May 17th.
Samoa 2015 will be the fifth edition of the Commonwealth Youth Games and the first time Archery has been included. The sport has been contested twice in the Commonwealth Games – Brisbane 1982 and Delhi 2010.
We wish all archers the best of luck during the rest of the selection window and look forward to welcoming the successful athletes onto Youth Team Scotland.
Photo Credit: Scottish Archery