Archery in Cwmbran

Playing in a mini 'backyard' Archery contest in Cwmbran.

It has become a great tradition on visits to our friends, the Kukielka family, in Cwmbran, Wales that we compete against each other in a sporting contest of some sort.

Over the years we've played Crazy-, Mini- & Adventure Golf, as well as Petanque/Boules, Finger Jousting, Darts and Table Tennis.

For 2014 it was to be Archery!

With a board set-up and a BBQ on the go I took the opportunity to get in some praccy as the last time (and one of the first times) I'd picked up a bow was while playing Archery Tag in Guildford in April last year.

Richard arching in Cwmbran

A random draw was made to decide the playing order for the six archers. I was drawn to be first, followed by Seve, Cindy, Emily, Jas and Leo.

Having a quick search online to find the official rules of Archery and the points scoring system we opted for the 5 Zone ('GNAS') method where you score by colour - White equaling 1 point, Black 3, Blue 5, Red 7 and Gold 9.

In both the 5 Zone and 10 Zone ('World Archery') scoring methods an arrow that is touching a line separating zones (known as a 'line cutter'), scores the value of the higher scoring zone

It was originally planned for each player to have ten arrows, but with two arrows getting lost over the fence during practice and the light fading it was decided to have eight each rather than breaking up play by retrieving already fired arrows from the target.

The very model of an Archer - Jas Kukielka

I managed to score a 7 with my first arrow before missing the target with my next two shots, but then hit two 5's in a row and a 1 and a 7 to finish for a total score of 25.

A highish score, but not a lot of grouping going on!

Next up was Seve - victor in the 2009 Boules tournament and 2011 Table Tennis contest - who scored a 1, 3 and 3 for a total of 7.

Seve was not the 'Best in the World' at Archery

Cindy was next up and scored an impressive 11 points and landed every arrow at least somewhere on the board, even if they didn't all score.

Not an arrow on the ground when Cindy's around

Emily was fourth to fire and the less said about her go the better as she scored 0.

No caption required

Jas was the penultimate player to step up to the mark, but apart from a purple patch in the middle of his go, scored a lot of misses to finish on 15 points. Still good enough for second-place.

Silver medalist Jas

The last great hope to topple me and surpas the clubhouse lead was Leo - 2010 Darts Champion - but it was not to be, as he managed to score 1 point. Much to the chagrin of Emily who was hoping for some sort of repechage play-off for last-place.

Receiving the coveted Gold medal from Jas

To win by such a big margin I must of been channeling the spirit of San Marino's top Archer - Emanuele Guidi - who I met at the London 2012 Olympic Games!

A great fun evening with a BBQ and some great gluten free Fish & Chips from the Fairwater Fish Bar in Coed Eva too. If we had a garden I'd certainly think about getting some Archery gear.

Who knows what the next Kukielka-Gottfried sporting contest will be...

Related blog posts:
- Playing Archery Tag in Guildford
- Cwmbran

Link:
- Website of Archery GB - the governing body for the sport of archery in Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Results of the Scrap Iron Cup Minigolf Tournament in Newport, Wales

Luton’s Richard Gottfried defeats Cwmbran’s Cindy Kukielka to win fifth Scrap Iron Cup title at competition played at Newport’s Tredegar Park Crazy Golf course.



A nice sign to see - the Crazy Golf course at Newport's Tredegar Park has re-opened for 2012



On Saturday 26th August the Scrap Iron Cup Minigolf Trophy and Title was contested between members of the Midlands Minigolf Club and a lone guest member from the Splash Point Mini Golf Club at the newly re-opened 9-hole Crazy Golf course at Tredegar Park in Newport, Wales.



'Squire' Richard Gottfried plays the first hole of the Tredegar Park Crazy Golf course in Newport, Wales



Seven players lined-up in the contest that for 2012 replaced the annual Cystadleuaeth Minigolff Cymraeg (Welsh Minigolf Tournament). Reigning and defending two-time Scrap Iron Cup champion Owen ‘Jackpot’ Johnson decided that the competition would be played in a one-round shootout format to decide the winner.



Jas Kukielka takes on the refurbished 3rd hole at the Tredegar Park Crazy Golf course



The three players who had held the Cystadleuaeth Minigolff Cymraeg title teed-off in group one, with Cindy and Emily, and Owen and Paul in the other groups. Jas took an early lead, but was pegged back by Owen and all was looking good for a decisive winner of the contest. That was until hole 9!



The agonising wait to see if the ball will drop in the hole on the 9th at Tredegar Park



At the end of the round there was a six-way tie for the lead after the majority of the field scored a round of 23(+5). The 9th hole at Tredegar Park is a killer hole and it certainly proved a round and contest killer for Leo ‘Leonard’ Kukielka who was unable to hole out and therefore was unable to qualify for the play-off.



The players putt away on the 9-hole Tredegar Park Crazy Golf course in Newport, Wales



The sudden-death play-off commenced and saw the players play holes chosen by the course manager, with hole 1, hole 6, hole 7 and finally hole 3 played to decide the winner. At the final hole Welsh Ladies Number One Cindy Kukielka scored a three and Richard Gottfried scored a hole-in-one to take the win in a rematch of the final of the fourth Scrap Iron Cup.

Final Rankings:

1st Richard Gottfried

2nd Cindy Kukielka

3rd Johnson Paul Johnson Paul Johnson

4th Owen Johnson

4th Jas Kukielka

4th Emily Gottfried

7th Leo Kukielka

Scrap Iron Cup - Hall of Fame

2012 - #11 - Richard Gottfried beat Cindy Kukielka - Newport

2011 - #10 - Owen Johnson beat Seth Thomas - Wroxham Barns

2011 - #9 - Paul Johnson beat Seth Thomas - Margate

2011 - #8 - Richard Gottfried beat Peter Jones - Liverpool

2011 - #7 - Seth Thomas beat Paul Johnson - Liverpool

2011 - #6 - Seth Thomas beat Owen Johnson - Hither Green

2011 - #5 - Seth Thomas beat Richard Gottfried - Bristol

2011 - #4 - Richard Gottfried beat Cindy Kukielka - Birmingham

2010 - #3 - Owen Johnson beat Richard Gottfried - Birmingham

2010 - #2 - Richard Gottfried beat Paul Johnson - Weymouth

2010 - #1 - Richard Gottfried beat Paul Johnson - Sandbanks

Rules of the Scrap Iron Cup (Subject to change)

• Played between members of the Midlands Minigolf Club

• Played in either groups of two, or one group, in round one

• Groups are drawn at random (often using the 'balls in a hat' technique)

• Round one is a strokeplay match played over 7, 9, 11, 12 or 18 holes

• The two players with the top scores after round one qualify for the second round/final

• Round two is a matchplay match played over 7, 9, 12 or 18 holes

• The winner of the matchplay match becomes the Scrap Iron Cup* Champion**

* The Johnson's Scrap Iron Cup (aka the 'NABBA ENGLAND 95 CLASS TWO WINNER' Trophy) remains the property of Owen and Paul Johnson

** The Reigning Scrap Iron Champion retains the cup until the next defence whereupon it is given up until the next Scrap Iron Cup tournament has been completed

Related blog posts:

- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour list of courses visited and played

- Wales

- Minigolf etc. - English to Welsh translations