At the recent state indoor tournament in Cessnock, Diann Benson overcame her more fancied Illawarra rival Fiona Hyde by two points to become state indoor champion.

It should be noted that Fiona represented Australian twice in World Cup events this year, making Diann’s win even more an upset.

She added the indoor title to her national tournament record of 354 out of 360, her national tournament 60m record and her three state records shot this year.

The members again shot well in the Illawarra field event.

Rob Loiterton and son Doug won their respective divisions and shot personal best scores on the first day.

Rob matched his score the next day and Doug improved his by one point to 334.

The result added to another strong second by Diann in the open women’s class and Grahame Benson’s fifth in the open men’s.

The results meant the Highlands club was within two points of winning the annual compound teams trophy.

The club then competed in the state target event at Homebush a fortnight ago.

Diann again performed strongly to place second with Fiona avenging her indoor loss.

Rob was down a little on form, placing 12th in a strong open men’s division that boasted six Australian representatives and nine state archers.

After a strong 90m personal best of 331, which gave him fourth place at the end of the distance, Grahame Benson disappeared from the leader board after a brain fade saw him not check the required signatures to legitimise his scoresheet.

To shoot 324 it must be remembered that your average arrow group size for six arrows is a ten-inch circle at 90m at an average of 54 per end.

Grahame was averaging 56 out of 60 per end, making his result all the more disappointing.

After the shoot he said he understood how a golfer must feel, although he didn’t lose thousands of dollars, rather just a shot at a $10 dust collector that would have meant just as much.

For archery information call Ray on 4872 1781 or Grahame on 4841 1800.