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Help Finn get to the Youth Archery World Championships in Spain in August.

  • Nine Days to Go

      6 August 2019
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    In 9 days Finn heads off from the middle of a bitterly cold Kiwi winter to 35+ degrees in Madrid, Spain. I’m writing this from the ice box that is the wonderful Mountain Green Archery Club Indoor Range which has been a godsend these last few weeks. Finn’s been shooting around 1500 arrows a week in preparation for the Youth World Championships as often as possible outdoors at 60m but that’s been a bit of a challenge with short days and bad weather. However, he seems to be peaking as planned and can’t wait to get on the Qatar Airlines plane to Oman and then Madrid. Your help has been brilliant. You’ve given him his airfare and that’s the most important step. He’s grateful. We’re grateful, and it’s bigs hugs to you all. To those who’ve made this possible by your contributions and by sharing this message, I owe you big time. If you’re now in a position to help there’s still time. This page remains open until the end of August. The pic is from Outdoor training last Sunday. Eight hours in the air thrashing that gold. I’ll make sure I keep the updates coming - and thanks again.

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  • A quick hello ...

      18 July 2019
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    Shooting for gold in the TT Individual Matchplay event, a great build up for Madrid in 5 weeks time. His average end in the final was 28/30 which is a great start to this part of the journey, shooting 60m as he will in Spain.

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  • The Trans Tasman Challenge a Success for Finn

      18 July 2019
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    Finn shot the biennial Trans Tasman Challenge tournament last week here in Auckland, New Zealand and was extremely successful, as was the team in that they succeeded in wresting the trophy back from Australia who had held it for the past 7 years. Deciding to shoot the 'TT' as it's know was an easy decision for Finn because this is the event that gave him his first international archery experience and he feels strongly about paying things forward. He had a choice between shooting a World Cup event in Berlin, the Pan Pacific Games in Samoa or the 'Ready Steady Tokyo' pre-Olympic Tournament in Japan and chose the TT for so many good personal reasons. The cover photo on this fundraiser shows Finn with his TT bling - four medals - and the trophy itself. He won gold in the Individual Matchplay beating all the other cadet men in a round robin style event, silver with Julia Harrison in the Mixed Team Matchplay, a second silver in the three person Teams Matchplay and bronze in the WA720 ranking round. Next is Madrid and the excitement is building. Finn wants me to say a sincere thank you to everyone who has contributed to his fundraiser and he assures me he's seriously ready for Europe. I'd agree. Regardless of the weather being rather inclement right now, he's shooting 300 arrows a day in training and he's looking really sharp. My thanks to you too - and we're almost there!

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  • Hyundai Archery World Cup Events - Shanghai and Antalya

      5 June 2019
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    Finn has returned from shooting at the World Archery Hyundai World Cup events in Shanghai and Antalya with success under his belt. In his first World Cup international in Shanghai he shot a personal best of 626 which qualified him at 85th for the tournament and enabled him to shoot the individual matchplay. He drew a Bangladesh archer ranked 13th in the matchplay and managed to halve two ends with him finally going down 2-6. This success gave him a tournament ranking of 57th which was a great first result. In Antalya he again shot very well achieving the top score of any New Zealand archer but failed to make the matchplay cut which was set extremely high at 20 points beyond Finn's previous personal best. Finn's summary of his first World Cup experience was 'I feel really at home here shooting with my tribe.' This all augers well for the upcoming Trans Tasman Challenge and the Junior World Championships in August in Madrid.

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  • Trans Tasman Challenge Selection

      2 May 2019
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    Today Finn received confirmation that he has again been selected to 'wear the fern' at the Trans Tasman Challenge event, this year at Pullman Park, Auckland in July. He's excited about this because his experience last year was so positive.

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  • Thanks to everyone who has contributed or shared the page.

      1 May 2019
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    Tomorrow, Thursday 2 May, Finn leaves Aotearoa New Zealand for Shanghai, China where he'll compete in the 2nd World Archery Hyundai World Cup Event of the 2019 series. This is another first in that, while Finn has represented New Zealand before this is the first time with the Senior Men's archery team. It's hard to imagine a more profound change from shooting at Cornwall Park, often alone with only sheep and pheasants for company, to the pressure cooker of Shanghai on the line with his heroes from around the world. We'll send updates each day and for those of you who are considering supporting this fine young athlete, please do. We'll all be really grateful.

    PS because we haven't got an up to date video of Finn shooting I've added a 15 minute clip of him raising $1200.00 for the Mental Health Foundation by doing 1000 sponsored mae giri karate kicks at $0.10 a kick. It's a karate rite of passage and I can tell you there were a few pretty tired black belts by the end. Because 1000 is never enough his Sensei keeps going until Finn hits 1200. :-)

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