Arrived back into Ireland on Sunday 31st May at 01:30  after spending 11 days in Austria in the city of Mittersill surrounded by the lovely national park of Hone Tauern. I was competing in the E.B.H.C.2010 held in the town land of Stuhlfelden. Ireland was well represented with 22 archers in different categories and bow styles.

There were 6 different courses laid out with each archer having to shoot 4, 1 on each day of the week with 1 rest day. Competition was fierce with over 1200 archers competing in this tournament. There were stunning shots with the Alps as a backdrop for most; however some were well placed and obscured view to close mountain side.

Registration was carried out on the weekend before the shoot and the opening ceremony on the Sunday. After all the Irish meeting up and donning the "uniform" shirt, we had time for some photos. We looked really well and caught the attention of other countries as we stood out in our blue shirts.

The parade went through the town of Stuhlfelden with the local population lining the streets in their national dress to show support, and we were led by local horsemen with whips that cracked the air to announce our arrival. It was a fantastic day.
The weather always plays an important part in shoots and this year was no different. We had good sunshine and warm - hot weather most of the week. There was some cloud cover in the morning but this burned off early and by about 10:00 each morning was a good indication of how the day would pan out. Most of us got some sun burn and some got more than they wanted. However on Wednesday night a big storm front moved in and there was a torrential downpour with lots of thunder & lighting. This wet weather contained into Thursday but lifted in the early afternoon and was good again.

Each morning the Archers would form up in the marquee to be giving details of how the day would go. The first day had some problems but these were sorted by day two. There were buses to bring us to the range each group was on and they were to be there when we finished to bring us back. However on the first day some of us were on one of the courses a couple of miles away and the buses were not around to bring the weary folk home after a long day of shooting. We finished shooting about 18:30, walked about a mile to the main road and waited over an hour for a bus to bring us back and when we arrived back at base at 20:00 hours most of friends had dispersed and gone home. A very weary and long day for some.

All the targets on all the ranges were 3D and a lot of shots had 2 lots of pegs & targets so 2 archers were able to shoot side by side. This did speed up things as most groups were between 6 & 8 archers. This worked well until we came up to a single target shot and with the twiddlers this put a stop to shooting as at one stage we were waiting for an hour to progress on to our next shot as there was a hold up of 6 groups, so we had a little rest and some of us fell asleep (relaxed too much ). Some of the targets made great use of the setting and as a result caught some of the most experienced out causing some embarrassing misses and spectacular bouncing of arrows.
Austria is a fabulous country and on days off and free time we were able to go around and see the sights and visit museums and places of interest. We also got a little booklet in the registration pack with some vouchers in for discounts to some places and as a result we met archers everywhere we went. This was good as there was always a good story to tell (see Chris Dawkins).  Austria is also in the euro zone so there was no messing about with money and was not expensive with a pint about  ¬ 3 and good public transport. Lots of photos were taken and over the next while will be popping out all over the place. Thank goodness for digital as I have taken over 700 photos over the competition.

Well done Austria, as I feel this was one of the best EBHC competitions I have been at.
Mark Ivory, Loughcrew Archers