The next Lancaster Archery Classic is scheduled to take place on 27-29 January 2017, in a brand new venue at Spooky Nook Sports in Manheim, PA in the USA. It’s expected to be the biggest iteration of the event yet, with over 1,000 archers registered.
Here’s five facts about the Lancaster Archery Classic…
1. Qualification
Archers at the Lancaster Archery Classic shoot on standard 40cm World Archery target faces at 18 metres – however, things are scored differently. The recurve 10 (4cm in diameter) scores 10 points, while the inner 10 (2cm in diameter) scores 11. For the 60-arrow round, that makes the total possible score 660.
(One person has managed a perfect score on the round at the competition to date: multiple World Archery Champion Reo Wilde, in 2009. Jesse Broadwater also shot perfect in 2005, when an NFAA-style five-spot target face was used.)
2. Matchplay
The top-ranked archers in each division advance to head-to-head style brackets, where the top ranked archers face off against the lowest in head-to-head eliminations of 12 arrows, until four or eight remain (depending on the division).
That’s when things get different, again… as instead of a shoot-off, the Lancaster Archery Classic employs a shoot-up!
The fourth-ranked archer shoots against the third, then the winner shoots against the second – and then winner of that shoots against number one to decide the winner of the tournament.
3. Big winners
Reo Wilde has won the Lancaster Archery Classic the most times, taking men’s unlimited wins in 2008, 2010, 2011 and 2012. Brady Ellison, who won his fourth Hyundai Archery World Cup title in 2016, has never won the tournament – but has finished second three times, in 2013, 2014 and 2016.
4. Storms
The 2016 Lancaster Archery Classic, which had 933 competitors, was affected by an historic snowstorm that saw a record 76cm of snowfall during the tournament. Parts of the schedule were cancelled – leading to one of the best influxes of archery-but-not-archery related social media post surges in recent memory – but the finals were able to be held.
5. 2017
Spooky Nook Sports complex, a massive site with integrated restaurants and hotels, can accommodate 1,356 archers in its spacious TRUBall/Axcel Hall, where the competition will be held. The prize pool totals over USD $150,000, and there are both pro and amateur divisions. Entries are open now.
The Lancaster Archery Classic is organised by Lancaster Archery Supply, a gold associate sponsor of World Archery.
