Online tournaments receive boost as archery ranges reopen worldwide

Remote competitions have existed in archery for a long time.

Before the Internet age, they were often completed by mail, while in certain countries – like the United Kingdom – many still retain the name "postal," even if email has long replaced the postman.

World Archery Americas organises an annual variation on the concept: the MICA, or Multi-Sites Indoor Championships of the Americas. The first phase of USA Archery’s indoor nationals is run in multiple locations.

The COVID-19 pandemic, meanwhile, has led to a large resurgence in the number of open online events.

With many countries unable to host normal tournaments due to social distancing, they’re a competitive alternative as archery ranges begin to reopen after the widespread closures of sports facilities under health regulations.

Here are some of the most popular online events we’ve seen run over the past few months.

#FFTAVOSARCS

More than 1,600 archers from across France took part in the national archery federation’s first online tournament held on 29 June to 5 July.

The event covered outdoor, indoor, field and 3D, with results submitted remotely and organised in Ianseo. Fifty participants were also chosen, at random, to receive prizes from the federation’s partners.

ICE Isolation Shoots 

Organised by Dominiek Demey in Belgium, this crowdfunded remote event is now into its 14th stage. Competitors register in advance, are given a starting time and shoot regular distances or a scaled target.

Find more information on the ICE Smart Sports website.

Beat the Outbreak

In the early stages of restrictions on sporting activities, World Archery ran a 10-week home-shooting league. It was purely for fun, with unusual targets issued in a Facebook group.

More than 10,000 people joined in. The targets are still available to download and print from Facebook and World Archery’s extranet.

Virtuous Archery Cup

An Italian event taking place throughout July, organisers are asking participants to make independent donations to a charity. Each archer will shoot four stages before the 26 July.

Lockdown Knockout

World Archery’s first remote international event was launched both as a competition for world-class archers and as entertaining content for the community.

It wasn’t an easy thing to organise. But the idea isn‘t difficult to convert into something far simpler (and cheaper). Zoom, or an alternative video conference software, is a perfect place to host remote matches.

The format of the event saw eight archers shoot a qualification round, followed by a bracket, with each match decided live over video.

Highlights of the compound and recurve Lockdown Knockouts are on Youtube.

Organise your event

What do you need to run your own remote archery competition? Not very much.

Come up with a set of rules that fits the kind of competition you want to run and find a group of like-minded people who want to take part in it.

Things to bear in mind are that not everyone can access a full range; it’s great to keep the competition fair by requesting target pictures or videos. And even though you might not shoot together, winning a remote competition still deserves a prize!

Tweet @worldarchery or contact us with stories of remote competitions you have run or participated in.