Well. having got back from Australia, shot indoors for 2 nights, then been on a hen weekend, I shot the last season of Hawks on Sunday and got 568 (GB qualifiers 570), so fairly pleased with that really! Hangovers, sweets and coffee really arent the best way to start a tournament! Right, back to the hard work!!

The EAF funding up to 6 men and women compounds to compete in the Australian open. We travelled out on the 6th Oct. Being early spring, the weather had been pretty rubbish before we got out there, but it was great whilst we were there.

We shot at Diamond Valley archery club - whos facilities were fantastic! We shot everyday except one in the 2 weeks we were there.

In the Australian open itself, I qualified in 2nd place after a pretty windy short metric (the fita was shot over 2 days). In the head to heads I started well, but in the 2nd round was taken out by a massive 116 (by 2 points the highest pass of te womens tournament!). We then went into a secondary tournament, which I won all 3 rounds, and finished to my potential of 9th place. A disapointing finish to a very good trip!

Oh, and I did get a sneaky look around the neighbours set! ... come on, you've got to!!

Another fantastic day of weather, I shot another good score of 688. I believe this would have beaten Nichola Simpson's national record by 1 point, if Lucy Holderness hadnt shot a blinder! A 695 I think! Good shooting girl!

My favourite tournament of the year! I put in 1391 here last year, the weekend before the 4th world cup in dover and coming 4th!

I had a lot of expectation this weekend, and I lived up to it - putting in 1394, and becoming English National Champion!

Just 6 more points!!!

With fantastic weather, I put my SB 720 score in at Meridan - 684.

This is obviously written a bit in retrospect! Back in June I went to France for the 4th world cup. I needed a good finish at the last event to be in with a chance of a place in the finals. There are 4 tournaments in the world cup series, however, points are only taken from 3 events - so I currently have a 5th and 7th place under my belt.

The weather was fantastic- very hot in the high 30s most of the week!

The ranking round was fairly average, I put in a 675. The head to heads started well, but in the top 16 I was taken out by an Iranian girl who was fantastic most of last season, but her 1st shoot this year I believe. That left me in 12th place, which was simply not good enough. My world cup final hopes were over! My team mate Nichola Simpson shot very well,and finished in 2nd place, taking her through to the world cup finals to be held in Switzerland later in the year.

The womens compound division is getting more and more competitive with a number of good archers coming through recently, so I knew this weekend was going to be tough!

The Saturday was the 720 which I scored 669 and was suprised to be ranked 1st out of the 28 ladies. I had a bye in the 1st round, then went through the 2nd round well. In the 3rd round I was up against Tracey (Wales!) which was a tighter match. I went through to face Nichola Simpson, and I shot a poor round and she beat me. That put me in the semi's against Andrea Gales, who I beat.

Lucy holderness had had a great day with qualifying in 2nd and finishing 1st. I knew I had to be 2 positions clear of her in the FITA on the Sunday to win back my title.

I had a great 60m, but otherwise an average performance in the FITA in some tricky wind. It was possible to dodge the worst of the wind but it was drifting the arrows around the 9. I finished with 1371, 12 points above the rest of the field and well infront of Lucy.

I won the UK masters, 60m, long metric and 50m distance. I narrowly missed out on the 70m award by x's to Rikki Bingham.

Overall a great weekend! More practice now for Bowe in 2 weeks...

It was nice having shot here last year to return to the same venue. My practice has been going pretty good over the last week.

My 720 of 670 put me in 9th place. My first round went well, putting me against 8th seed and 4th placed in Croatia, Laurila. I shot well and made it into the top 8. I met Jamie Van Natta in the 1/4s and started well, tying the first end. Unfortunately Van Natta beat me and left me in 7th place overall.

In the team round I shot well again and we won are semi comfortably. The gold final was shot on the beach which was a fantastic venue and actually less windy than up on the field! I shot 76/80 - we fought hard but the Russian's beat us by just 3 points! Gutted!

Then i had to go for my 2nd world cup pee test in a row - so not fair!

My performance here has got me the go ahead for the 4th world cup in Bowe in 3 weeks!!

With the problems of terminal 5 at Heathrow, we got on the plane, but our luggage went by van to Vittel, France!

3 weeks after the 2nd world cup meant there was plently of shooting between the two.

My 720 wasnt fantastic, and I qualified 19th. This meant shooting in the 1st round, which went well. However, in the 2nd round I just didnt shoot well enough and got taken out. A dissappointing exit.

In the team round I shot an excellent pass of 78/80. Andrea, Nichola and I tied with the Italians and were unlucky when they put in a perfect 30 to our 28 points.

Overall, learnt a lot from this tournament and have made a plan for my week before the 3rd world cup in Turkey

Check out my article in the Bow International Magazine. See p 46