A GREAT tournament in great weather. That’s the best way to describe the weekend’s 2006 Euronations that was held for the first time in Guernsey. Port Soif was a picture as more than 70 archers from Guernsey, England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Northern Ireland and Jersey competed in glorious sunshine.

‘The whole event went very, very well,’ said one of the organisers, Ian Le Page.

‘It went better than I expected and as well as I’d hoped. We’ve had no complaints from those who came over.

‘In fact, we did have one complaint from the Irish team manager who complained that how can anyone do better in the future?’

The temperature in the shade reportedly hit 31C on Sunday. The archers were offered some respite from the searing heat by the ever present breeze at the west-coast ground coming off the Atlantic.

But while this served to help keep the archers cool, it did cause some problems for their shooting, specially on Saturday when it was slightly stronger.

‘They were happy with the little breeze,’ said Le Page.

‘The heat does drain you when it’s that warm. It was noticeable on Sunday that all the scores were up from the day before.’

The main event of the team’s competition took place on Saturday and it was the strong England side that took the honours. Their number one compound archer, Mark Franklin, won his discipline with a score of 1,344.

On the next day’s individual shoot, the 42-year-old bench fitter from Staines continued his dominance as he went even better to get 1,361.

Franklin took up archery eight years ago when, due to back problems, a doctor suggested he took up a sport that kept his back upright. He competed in Guernsey in 2004 when he won the double Fita competition.

He returns in September to compete in the next double Fita tournament. ‘It’s brilliant being here,’ he said.

‘It’s something I always look forward to. There’s a relaxed atmosphere and everyone is very friendly.

‘I’m already looking forward to coming back in September.’

Franklin was followed in the men’s compound by his England team-mates, Neil Dowsett and Terry Course.

Guernsey compound archers Mike Appelqvist and Steve Yates had a better day on the Sunday in the individuals than they did in the team the day before.

The 45-year-old Appelqvist shot 1,315 to finish sixth while Yates came 11th with his score of 1,290.

England’s Matt Webb won the men’s recurve while the highest-placed home archer was young Matt Tardivel.

In the women’s contest, Andrea Gales from England took the compound with 1,320. Viv Le Page was the top-placed Sarnian, when she finished in ninth spot.

The women’s recurve title was awarded to Ireland’s Sinead Cuthbert who also set a new Irish record with her shoot of 1,258.

Northern Irish recurve archer Gail Reilly was making her second competitive archery appearance at Port Soif.

The 28-year-old teacher represented the Isle of Man, where she lived at the time, in the 2003 Island Games.

‘It’s quite nice to be back,’ she said.

‘The organisation has been brilliant and the Guernsey club have been amazing. They organised nice weather as well.’

Reilly was leading the women’s recurve in Saturday’s main event before Wales’ Rebecca Dawson came good in the latter stages to take gold.

‘I was pleased with my score,’ said Reilly.

‘My last distance wasn’t great though. I was about 30 points down from my personal best.

‘I was starting to melt in the heat.’