St George's Archery Club aces dominate at Archery GB's National Clout Championships

Clout is a form of the sport where archers shoot from long distance, attempting to drop their arrows as close as possible to a 12-inch square flag surrounded by a 12-foot radius scoring zone.

Ten members of the Harrogate-based club made the short trip across North Yorkshire to take part at the event, which was hosted by York Archers Society at their Hopgrove ground.

Carol Fairbrother was in typically dominant form, winning the ladies’ 140-yard barebow national title for the 14th time.

This saw her round off an unbeaten year, in which she has also retained the Yorkshire, Northern Counties, and Archery England titles.

Fiona Harris also impressed on her way to securing a fifth-placed finish.

Ian Harris came fourth in the 180-yard gentlemen’s barebow category and his score of 163 secured him his 2025 Master Bowman classification.

Longbowman Clive Woolley claimed his first individual national title, winning the closely-contested 180-yard shoot.

Gary Sandles and Ian Marr were separated by just three points in 14th and 15th places respectively, completing a good showing for the club in this bow category.

In the 50+ longbow competition, Caron Kolowiecki capitalised on an excellent start to take the national crown.

Shooting recurve in his first open imperial competition, Luke George improved throughout the day to claim 13th place and a white tassel award.

The club’s juniors shot exceptionally well, with Jess Hardesty-Dean claiming pole position in the junior lady barebow category.

Under-12 novice longbow archer Matilda George continued her excellent start in the sport, shooting against juniors aged up to 20 years and taking second place as well as bagging a black imperial tassel award.

The St George’s barrow team of Fairbrother, Ian Harris and Hardest-Dean retained the National Barrow Team title, winning it for a record eighth time.

Associate members Julian Smith (compound bow 180 yard - bronze), Geoffrey Ingleby (50+ barebow 120 yard - bronze), Ray Chaplin (recurve 180 yard - eighth place) and Laura Hainsworth (longbow 140 yard - fourth place) rounded off an excellent day’s shooting for the Allerton Park-based club.