2015 IFAA World Bowhunter Championships - Godollo, Hungary

I've just arrived home from a fantastic week in Hungary shooting at my first IFAA World Bowhunter Championships. The trip out was pretty uneventful. My dad and I flew with Ryan Air from Manchester to Budapest, arriving on Sunday 23rd August. The weather was lovely and sunny which made a nice change from the rubbish weather we've been having in the UK this summer.
We checked into the University accommodation which was our base for the week. Monday was a day of rest and we walked into the local town which had the most fantastic ice cream shops. I mean REALLY fantastic! That evening was the parade of all the archers from 32 different countries from as far away as New Zealand, South Africa and Brazil. It was truly international! The local people were very friendly and gave us all a great opening ceremony.
Tuesday was the first day of shooting and the practice ranges and courses were superb. I've never seen so many 3D targets - all supplied by Eleven which is an Hungarian manufacturer. Every morning we were taken out to the course by bus. There were up to 6 archers in each group and each target had two of the same animals to aim at to speed things up.
The weather was fantastic all week with temperatures getting up to 35 degrees on some days. The first two days were unmarked animal rounds, followed by a 2 arrow round and the tricky Hunter round on the last day. Big points to get (or lose) as it was, effectively a 'hit or miss' situation. By the last day I had built up a lead of 99 points so I just made sure that I didn't miss and played it a little safe. it worked, as I ended up around 75 points in front and was crowned the World Junior Champion in the Freestyle Recurve category.
I had a great time - meeting lots of new people from lots of countries. I was lucky enough to do a couple of shirt swaps and managed to get a South African and Brazilian shirt - both very rare apparently!  I also learned a huge amount about how to communicate with my fellow archers who couldn't speak much english, how to cope with extreme heat in challenging conditions, how to adapt to new rules which I had to learn quickly, how to manage my body in terms of hydration and tiredness and how to deal with 4 days of shooting head to head with my immediate competitor.
Overall it was brilliant and I can't wait until my next big tournament abroad. Roll on the European Field Championships in Poland in October!
Finally I would just like to thank all of my sponsors which you will see at the bottom of this page. Their products never let me down once and have performed brilliantly throughout the year.