EDGEWORTH archer Josh Ford says he is ready to scale back his bow-hunting commitments after taking out his class at the IFAA World Field Archery Championships in South Africa last month.
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The Boolaroo Bowmen member travelled to Potchefstroom, near Johannesburg, for the five-day championships after winning the Australian Nationals in Alice Springs earlier this year.
A national champion of three separate styles of bow-hunting, Ford competed in only the International Field Archery Association (IFAA) freestyle unlimited event in South Africa.
He finished on top in class B of the junior male freestyle unlimited division in what he says was an “amazing” competition experience.
“It was a different atmosphere to any of the shoots in Australia that you’d go to,” he said. “The mass of nationalities that were there, you had people talking all sorts of languages.
“I shot with a group and there was only two of us who spoke English. So the shooting conditions were different.”
Ford said the event was an “eye opener” and he was happy with how he shot.
The victory rounds out a couple of competitive and successful years for the 17-year-old and he says will now take a step back from bow-hunting to focus on the higher school certificate.
He also plans to make the transition to a recurve bow in the future, which is the type of archery in the Olympics.
“I’m going to change to a recurve and give that a go,” he said. “I’ll see how I go with that but I’m reasonably happy with what I’ve achieved with the compound [bow].”
LOCALS REIGN SUPREME ON HOME WAVE AT BIRUBI
Mike Clayton-Brown won the Kaos Surf PRD Cadet Cup Under 16’s division and his sister Elle finished second in the Open Women's Pro-AM at Birubi beach on Sunday.
The Corlette duo led the way for the Port Stephens surfing contingent, both putting in impressive performances in decent swell.
Mike had some huge backside turns in the Under 16 Boys final, remaining busy over the 20-minute event and catching a handful of long tapered walls which allowed him to unleash the quality turns.
He claimed victory with a 16.04 two-wave heat total over fellow event standout Taj Simon from Port Kembla who finished second.
Elle Clayton-Brown faced Japanese surfer Amuro Tsuzuki, who was using the Open Women’s Pro-AM as preparation for the upcoming Port Stephens Toyota Pro World Surf League Qualifying Series competition.
Tsuzuki tore apart all the rounds of competition but Elle put up some stiff competition, along with fellow local Jasmine Sampson.
Newcastle’s Sunny Whitby-Otto came fourth in the Under 16 Boys.
