The Vegas Shoot celebrated its 51st birthday in 2017. It did so by once again breaking records of participation, visitors and retailers.
First held in 1962 in the Sahara Hotel, which is now known as SLS Las Vegas, The Vegas Shoot’s home for the past six years has been the South Point Hotel, Casino & Spa. The 2017 event took place on 10-12 February. Fitting thousands of archers onto shooting lines, visitors, trade show, Indoor Archery World Cup and more into the schedule is no easy task.
Here’s The Vegas Shoot 2017, by the numbers…
$403,000 USD
The total prize fund – in cash and scholarships – for the event was $403,000. It’s the largest it’s been in the tournament’s history, and doesn’t include the sponsor contingency that many of the top archers also receive if they place well. The organisers paid the winner of the championship open category an incredible $51,000.
200,000 sq ft
Two huge halls, three arenas – one of which normally acts as one of the USA’s finest indoor horse riding facilities – a trade show room, a VIP training room, a bow storage room and four meeting areas for the NFAA and World Archery staff occupied well over 200,000 square feet of floor space.
The Arena of Spades, the pro arena, is 30,000 sq ft in area alone – and hosted more than 5,000 spectators.
9,600 room nights
The South Point Hotel and The Grand View Hotel served as the two main hotels for competitors. (With special rates, too.) A total of 8,000 hotel room nights were booked by archers at The South Point, and another 1,600 in The Grand View.
3,485 archers
Since 2012, The Vegas Shoot has doubled in size. In 2013, 1811 archers attended; in 2014 it was 2165; 2573 in 2015 and 3050 in 2016. In 2017, 3480 people – amateurs and pros – shot at The Vegas Shoot. It is the largest single-location indoor archery tournament in the world.
15 perfect 900s
From the largest shooter pool ever, 270 compound archers competed for the big $51,000 USD prize in the open championship division.
Just 15 men shot a perfect 900-score (the same number as in 2015): Stephan Hansen, Mike Schloesser, Steve Anderson, Kris Schaff, David Houser, Mario Vavro, Glen Bordwell, Reo Wilde, Chris Bee, Tate Morgan, Jesse Broadwater, Justin Hannah, Paul Tedford, Chance Beaubouef and Lewis Holmes III.
Dave Cousins was able to join the selected group by winning the Lucky Dog.
In the end, Mike “Mister Perfect” Schloesser won the coveted event.
13-strong staff
Often seen wearing a red t-shirt, black trousers and a grin, the 13 staff of the National Field Archery Association in Vegas worked hard (and fast) to register, check scorecards, dish out welcome packs and man the information desk throughout the event. Nice job!
3 more years
The organisers have an agreement to host the Vegas Shoot at the South Point Hotel through 2020. Want to block out your schedule in advance? Here are the dates:
- 9-11 February 2018
- 8-10 February 2019
- 7-9 February 2020
3rd perfect woman
According to the history book, prior to 2017, only two women had ever shot a perfect 900 points at The Vegas Shoot – Mary Zorn in 2010 and Sarah Lance in 2014.
Tanja Jensen, who also won the 2016/17 Indoor Archery World Cup Final, became the third woman to shoot the perfect score.
“I came here without any expectations so I’m just really, really happy with all that happened this weekend,” said Tanja after making the mark.
1st perfect youth
Carson Sapp shot a perfect 900 points in the young adult championship division, too – which is, according to those in the know, the first time it’s happened.
1 woman: Sara Lopez
For the first time in The Vegas Shoot’s history, the main championship was open to both male and female archers. World number one Sara Lopez was the only woman to enter and compete with the men.
Lopez shot a perfect 300 points over the first day of competition. Although she scored 898 and finished in 79th place overall – two down – she said she had achieved what she wanted to, proving that men and women are equal in archery.
The fourth stage and final of the 2016/17 Indoor Archery World Cup took place on 10/11 February 2017 in Las Vegas, USA as part of The Vegas Shoot on 10-12 February.
