A brand new edition to the VC Cup Calendar saw the introduction of VC Cup Archery in collaboration with the University of Kent Archery Society.
For one lunch and one lunch only, teams gathered to prove their one off Centre Parcs archery win a few decades ago was no fluke!
Before bows were drawn, staff were taken through a safety demonstration provided by the President of the Archery Society, in how to safely load, aim and fire a bow at the target. As opposed to other VC’s Cup games, the target on this occasion was not another team, but a big wooden bullseye! The staff were eager to get to the point. Once the demonstration was finished, they channeled their inner Robin Hood, gearing up to give it a go. There were four targets set up equidistantly at the back of the hall with two teams assigned to one target. Each target had an experienced archer from the Archery Society to help guide and coach each member through the stages of firing and ensure no arrows accidentally went astray!
Each team member was given three practice shots to shoot from a 10-metre distance. The accuracy on show was impressive and undoubtedly surprised some individuals who shocked themselves with their quick learning and arrow-minded accuracy. After the first-round teams retreated back another five metres and went again. Here, the accuracy began to dwindle as the skill level failed to match that of Kevin Costner. Aiming to improve, teams retreated even further back to try their luck out at a distance of 20-metres from the target. Although there were many arrows which fell short, Living La Vida Mocha, Keepers of the Keys and Back to the future (student) proved unstoppabow, firing some fantastic shots, and scoring a number of tens!
Unfortunately due to the nature of the event and the time it took for teams to prepare and practice, there was not enough time to fully score the event. Instead, staff were able to maximise the time they had at the event and add some news stings to their bow, which will put them in a fantastic position for the next time the visit Centre Parcs! That being said it was refreshing to see so many new faces at this event and some fantastic feedback to boot. The Sports Development team hope to bring this event back next year and provide staff with more time to allow the event to be scored.
There were some undoubtedly talented archers on show with some who even bought their own equipment! Shoutout to a member from DoNATS and a Robin Hood lookalike from Back to the Future (student) who really personified the event, and were certainly dressed to look the part! Also, a massive thank you to every team for coming to the event and one big thank you to the University of Kent Archery Society putting up with us! All society members were friendly, helpful, and informative and the event wouldn’t have been possible without them!
Keep up to date with the goings on from the Vice Chancellor’s Cup on our webpage!