Archers on their way to the Falkland Islands to compete in tournament

IT IS fair old trip for three Shetland sportspeople to compete in a tournament – more than 8,000 miles.

But three Shetland arches are travelling just that as they head to the Falkland Islands.

Dylan Murphy, Katie MacFarlane and Shane Anderson left Shetland on Friday to head to the inaugural ‘North v South’ archery tournament in the Falklands’ capital Stanley.

Today (Sunday) the trio will take an 18-hour flight from the UK to the Falkland Islands, with the aircraft refuelling at Ascension Island, before landing at Mount Pleasant airport around 30 miles south of Stanley.

Murphy, who is secretary of Shetland Archery Club, said: “We’re really pleased to be able take this long journey to the Falkland Islands and we’re looking forward to a great week of archery in the new indoor facilities, which will be a huge boost for the sport locally.”

The main flight routes to the British Overseas Territory are via a twice-weekly RAF flight from RAF Brize Norton, or via a weekly commercial flight from Santiago in Chile.

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In August this year the Falkland Islands archers began shooting in the newly built ‘Gold Centre’ in Stanley – an indoor sports hall used mainly for archery, indoor bowls and cricket, built to withstand the islands’ unpredictable weather.

The Falkland Islands Archery Association will this week welcome the small number of visiting archers from Shetland, Orkney and the RAF Archery Club to compete alongside them in a mix of competitions based on World Archery target formats and field archery.

On Wednesday, archers will shoot in the new indoor range at distances up to 25 metres.

Later in the week, the archers will shoot at the club’s outdoor range at distances up to 90 metres, including individual and team head-to-head shootouts.

There are also plans for an outdoor field archery competition, with 3D animal targets.

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At last year’s International Island Games in Orkney, recurve archer Bill Chater from the Falkland Islands won gold medal in the men’s head-to-head event.

Both he and teammate Louise Clarke won silver in the World Archery 1440 round for Men and Women respectively, and the Falkland Islands Team won bronze medal in the recurve team event.

Shetland Archers Billy Finnie and Katie MacFarlane won silver in the mixed recurve head-to-head event in Orkney last year, and Billy Finnie won bronze medal in the World Archery 1440 men’s event.

This week will also see the official opening of the new multi-million-pound Falkland Islands National Sports Complex in Stanley.