Full line at Valentine's shoot

The Lennon team, composed of dad Damien and son Frank, won with a score of 366 so they are starting off the new year like they finished the old - in winning form.

Second were the McCreery’s, father Robert and son Craig, and third was the Pattersons - mother Marion and son Michael.

Twenty three junior teams participated. For the St. Valentine’s shoot junior teams are composed of one boy and one girl.

The team of Shannon Russell-Cowan and Dean Hamilton won with 351 points followed by the second team of Matthew and Rebecca Corbett and the third team of Craig McCreery and Stephanie Shannon.

An innovation this year allowed senior teams of one male and one female. This proved a very close run competition with the top two teams ending on the same score of 343. It was finally decided on golds.

The team of Joanne and Andrew Walker had 29 golds and the team of Deidre Shannon and Damien Lennon had 22 golds! Hard luck to Damien and Deidre!!

In the under 10’s the top girl was Rose Gibson (113) and the top boy was Luke Gilmour (135). Shooting well were Thomas Gibson (92) in the six year old class;Rhys Walker, 117 and Katie Gibson (106) in the nine year old class.

In the under 13 class top girl was Emma Leeper (162) and top boy was Dean Hamilton (178). Also shooting well were Natasha Graham (151), Matthew Corbett (164), Joel Bell (147), Christopher English (135), Rory McMullen (114) and Stephanie Shannon (140).

In the under 18 class the top girl was Shannon Russell-Cowan (173) and the top boy was Mark Nesbitt (189). Also shooting well were Shannon Graham (156), Christopher Andrews (157) and Joshua Watson (155).

In the less experienced class Lynne English came first with 133, followed by Alison Bowles (132) while third was Angela Cowan (128).

In the more experienced ladies section Joanne Walker won with 184 with Marion Patterson second on 146 and Deidre Shannon third on 166.

Darren Ervine won the less experienced section with 173 followed by Sean McGrath (167) and Nigel Hamilton (144).

Robert Mallon won the more experienced section with 193. Joint second were Damien Lennon and Rune Naeri, both on 177. Fourth was Robert McCreery.

While the registration team is correlating over 100 scores a knock-out was arranged. In the under nine section the winners were Luke Gilmour and Emily Stevenson.

Natasha Graham and Nathan Barlow won the under 11 class. Ewan Lynas and Stephanie Shannon won the under 14 section while the under 18’s saw Joshua Watson and Jenny Winson win.

Mark Nesbitt won the sighted section. Sean McGrath won the longbow section. Andrea Hamilton and Darren Ervine won the senior barebow section.

Getting ready for Norway, Wales and Kendal, Ballyvally archers are now well into their outdoor season and it has been very varied so far.

The club’s outdoor shoot saw freezing fog hang over the wood all day so that it was difficult to see some targets. The February shoot saw nearly a foot of snow in the forest at Castlewellan.

The club’s next outdoor shoot will be on March 6-7 - what weather will it bring? It’s anybody’s guess!