There was no shooting at Onchan this weekend, as all eyes were focused on the National Junior and Senior Championships held at the Telford International Centre in Shropshire and the Manx archers really proved they are a force to be reckoned with! First up on Saturday were the two younger George sisters who now both shoot compound, Kirsten having changed to this discipline over the last year. Shooting in their respective age groups, the girls really shot extremely well, and Kirsten held on to her second place right through the competition and finished in silver medal position. Archery sensation Aalin George who is a member of the GB Junior Squad and is also sponsored by IOM Sport fought a hard battle all afternoon with her fellow squad member Daisy Clarke, only to be pipped at the post by one point, giving her second place in the Under 16 age group. However, this group was the highest scoring of all the Junior archers and therefore the winner was declared the National Junior Champion, with Aalin becoming the runner-up to this prestigious title. To put the top hat on the proceedings, it was then announced that Aalin had been awarded Young Archer of the Year by Archery GB. This undoubtedly secures her position in the GB squad for the coming year. On to Sunday and the turn of the Senior archers to compete. To give an idea of the scale of the competition, there were a total of approx. 400 archers taking part in this competition in the various disciplines, including the ten archers from the Isle of Man. Again our junior archers competed against the seniors, showing the level of their capabilities, but this time it was 18 yr old Charlotte George who shone. Charlotte had a high score of 544 to qualify in ninth place. She went on through to the ? finals where she unfortunately came up against Naomi Folkard one of the GB Olympic archers, and unfortunately lost on sets, although she did take one set from Folkard. Charlotte finished in 7th place finish over all. The honours on Sunday however have to go to senior lady compound shooter, Sarah Rigby. Yet again Sarah proved that she is a great competitor, especially under pressure. She qualified with a high score of 565 which seeded her 9th for the head to head competitions. Sarah then went from strength to strength, firstly putting out the reigning National Indoor Champion, then putting out the current World Outdoor Champion in the ? finals, and only losing out on the gold medal shootout by one set against professional archer Lucy Holderness. However in the medal match she then put in a magnificent performance against one of the Scottish Commonwealth Games archers to tie their match at 5 all and resulting in a one arrow shoot off. Sarah then secured her Bronze medal with a very confident shot into the ten ring on the target. She kept her nerve right to the end and proved that the high level competition she has experienced this year has really paid off. Back at home, members are reminded that this Saturday there will be a bag-pack at Shoprite Victoria Road, meet at 10 am. Also the round to be shot on Sunday at Onchan will be a Worcester with sighters at the usual times morning and afternoon. Ends