Teams of 40 champions (and 4 alternates) each for the East and for the Midrealm took the field today for the Pennsic Archery Champions’ Tournament, and the Eastern team won the war point!

Before the start of the tournament, King Gregor and Queen Kiena addressed the archers and wished them well, then convened a short Court, where they presented a Bowman badge to Lady Alexandra Krakkensdottir, and inducted Lady Siobhan Inghean Cormaic into the Order of the Sagittarius.

The competition consisted of three parts: a ten station roving range, a friend/foe shoot, and a long-distance shoot. The Royalty of the East all participated in the shooting throughout most of the day. Groups of four archers from each side went through the roving course, where they were faced with such creative shoots as apples, a swimming fish, candleabras, fox and sheep, and other challenges. The East scored a total of 4371 points to the Midrealm’s 3489.

While the Midrealm archers shot at the long-distance shoot, the archers of the Eastern team shot the friend/foe shoot. This year the target depicted Merida (from “Brave”) and the object was to shoot wisps or the moon and witch for positive points, and to avoid hitting Merida for negative points. The East netted 82 points (after deducting 11 negatives) to the Midrealm’s 54 points (with 18 negatives).

The final shoot for the East was at the long distances. Each archer shot 3 arrows or bolts from each of 4 lines, at a castle turret containing two archer guards. The farthest line was estimated at about 120 yards, and the closest about approximately 50 yards. The East scored a total of 421 points, and the Midrealm earned 328 points.

The Eastern Champions took all three parts of the competition, thus earning one war point for the Eastern War effort. Vivant! Each member of the victorious team contributed an arrow or bolt which will be presented to the Queen later in Court.

(Photo by Duke Edward Grey)