The IFAA’s Indoor Championships are run annually and alternate between a European and World event. This year’s competition, held in March, was a World Championships, held in Pärnu, Estonia, hosted by the Field Archery Association of Estonia (FAAE).
The Indoor Championship are shot in accordance with IFAA rules and consist of the IFAA Indoor and Flint Indoor Rounds, shot over three days, in the sequence of Indoor-Flint-Indoor.
For this year’s competition a total of 322 archers from Cubs to Veterans, covering all bow-styles, travelled from all over the world travelled to Estonia to compete at the Championships. Within their ranks were three members of IFAF; Adrian Twomey representing IFAF and Szilvia Horvath and Thomas Colclough both representing AAE.
In terms of milestones WIAC 2015 has brought several for Irish archers. It is the first time any member of IFAF had participated at an IFAA Indoor Championships and for each of them they should be congratulated on their own personal successes at the event. Adrian set a new IFAF record for AMBH-R in the Flint Round with a score of 187, Szilvia finished in 4th place in AFBH-R, just 6 points off a podium finish for a Bronze medal, whilst Thomas had a top-10 finish coming in 8th overall in AMBH-R.
The next IFAA Indoor Championships will be held in Calpe, in Costa Blanca, Spain, in November 2016. Details about the completion will be available on IFAA’s Tournament Calendar under EIAC 2016.
The Indoor Round consists of 60 arrows with a possible maximum score of 300 points.
The Round is based on 6 ends of 5 arrows per end, shot over a distance of 20 yards for Adults, Juniors and Veterans and 10 yards for Cubs. Each unit consists of 30 arrows and each round comprises of two Standard Units which give the overall total of 60 arrows.
There are two types of target face recognised for the Indoor Round. The default is a blue and white ringed target face 40cm in diameter with a bulls-eye in the centre with a smaller X-ring in its centre. The scoring used on the 40cm face is 5 points to 1 points starting at the centre and working out.
The second type of face is the Indoor 5-spot target which contains 5 smaller targets just 16cm in diameter all on one face and laid-out similar to the number “five dice”. The targets comprise of a white inner ring, with a X-ring in its centre, and an outer blue ring. The scoring used on the 5-spot face is 5 points for the white area and 4 points for the blue area. In using the use the Indoor 5-spot target the archer must have one arrow shot at each of the five spots on the target in a ‘Z’ format.
For both types of Indoor face, the X-ring is used as a tie-breaker
The Indoor Flint Round consists of 56 arrows with a possible maximum score of 280 points.
The Flint Round would generally be considered a more difficult round than the Standard Indoor Round, which most Irish arches are familiar with, as distances are much longer and the target faces are smaller.
The Round is based on 7 targets which are shot to make-up a Standard Unit. Each unit consists of 28 arrows and each round comprises of two Standard Units which give the overall total of 56 arrows.
The scoring used in the Flint Round ranges from 5 points to 1 points starting at the centre and working out.
The table below illustrates the parameters of the range and the differences between Cubs and other age groups in terms of distance and the size of face shot.
