Taste of Vegas comes to Loughborough!

As you will all know i went to the 'taste of Vegas' shoot hosted by Merlin at Loughborough Uni today.
After watching the last 30 minutes of the 'real' vegas shoot on the pc i felt even more nervous

I could feel the pressure for those guys and i was only watching them on the pc monitor..
Anyway after a reasonable nights sleep i left the house heading for the Uni. I arrived in plenty of time so i could get the feel of the place and hopefully settle my nerves a little. I set my bow up straight away and went to book in.

The start whistle...
After a short speech by Chris Jones (judge, jury, organiser and spokes person) he blew his whistle to start the 2 ends of 3 sighters. I was a bit worried that my sights wouldn't be right as it seems to change for indoors (no idea why they just do!) With only a slight adjustment to my windage and a couple of yards added on for being indoors it went well. Now it was for real 10 ends of 3 arrows at 18 metres.
Yes i was very nervous now and just needed to get a couple of good ends out and then i could settle down into the rhythm. I was shooting with another sighted compound (gent) and 2 recurve shooters and they we're all very friendly so if nothing else i was going to enjoy the day

. It went very well we shot all 30 and i managed a great score of 299 out of 300 matching the gents

I was very pleased indeed.
After the 1st session i was leading by 9 points which is quite a lot really in this game

I felt comfortably in the lead. I wasn't being complacent i just felt i was in a comfortable place.
We had a 20 minute break and then back again for the 2nd set of 30.
This set wasn't so good for me, i felt quite lethargic and there was a lack of pressure

. I like the pressure and work well with it, but it was gone and my score was suffering

My concentration levels were also down and my rhythm wasn't happening however I still managed a 292 out of 300, i know, you're thinking "that's still very good" and yes you're right but i know i can shoot better than that and was slightly disappointed with myself so with another 20 minute break i went on the hunt to find that pressure that had deserted me

After this 2nd session 2nd place had gained on me and closed the gap to me being only 5 points ahead

This would help with the pressure and i also asked Aaron who was keeping the leader board up to date after every 12 arrows to keep me informed of the girl's scores! Which he did and it helped, i felt a some pressure again and it increased my score for the last 30. I scored 294 which is still low considering what i know i can do but still a good score overall

Generally i felt i shot well, i know where i can make some improvements for future tournaments there were a couple of moments were i stabbed the trigger and wasted what could have been a good arrow, i don't do it very often but i need to eliminate it completely

After the 3rd and final session i had snatched my lead back and finished 1st by a good 10 points

I'd done it, my first feel of winning money for winning a tournament, ok it's not mega money but it's a start and i thoroughly enjoyed it!

I came away with a shiny gold medal/trophy

and £70 better off

I am the champion of the 1st Vegas style shoot held in the UK! I am very happy and feel quite exhausted now, it takes some real concentration and accuracy both of which escaped me partly through the day but in the end it all came good.

Thanks go to merlin for putting the shoot on and also to you guys for your continued support throughout

Thank you
Ruthy xx
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Pain is nothing compared to what it feels like to quit!

segolden · Moderator

Alright Ruthy! Had a feeling you'd make it through okay, and you've confirmed what I'd heard about the "mental fatigue factor" that sets in about the middle of a Vegas match. Kinda like the mid-match low of a day's combat shoot, but quieter.

Congrats, and don't spend it all in one place.

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