Saturday, August 15th

Preparations for the tournament

Impression of the day:

We arrived in Saignes yesterday night so we checked out the area today. We visited the location where the qualification and elimination rounds will be shot (Currière) and met with the judges who were inspecting the courses for Tuesday and Wednesday. So, the course builders are very much on schedule. We never saw the buttresses that are being used here before, but apparently this particular type has been in use in this area for the past three years. The brand is 'Booster' and we uploaded pictures from them in the 'Prelude to the EC album'. Complete with a close up of the inner part. One standard buttress size is 90 centimeters in diameter. So, if properly centered, an 80 cm face will fit, allowing just enough space for the mandatory 5 cm extra space next to the target face as dictated by the rulebook. For the bunnies and fourfaces a larger buttress is being used here in Currière and the judges were taking a closer look at these buttresses to make a few changes and swap a couple of 80 cm faces to these larger buttresses. That might make things a bit more challenging for the archers. At the inspection it was pretty much a giveaway with the same 90 cm buttresses used everywhere in the two courses for both the 60 and 80 centimeter faces.

Although the field looks rather flat on Google Earth, these aerial shots are rather deceiving. For instance in the red course, a small stream is used to set up some nice angular shots. Some parts of the course are in a field, normally vacated by cows. The organization was thoughtful enough however, to remove most of the cow dung from the field. Most parts of the shoot are in a tree covered area, providing decent amounts of shade. With the current forecast predicting 29 degrees on Tuesday and 34 degrees on Wednesday, we reckon this shade will be highly appreciated by the archers (and photographers) during the qualification and elimination rounds.

We also tried to explore the gardens around the castle in Champagnac, the place where the finals will be shot on Friday and Saturday. However, it is a national holiday today in France (Assumption) and the town was held hostage by a huge crowd gathering for a large 'brocante', which pretty much resembles a trunk sale. So, unfortunately there are no pictures from that area yet.

Tomorrow we will try to check out the situation about the arrival of teams (we only met the Belgians as of now) and see if everybody arrived here with a full set of luggage. If you come and visit: bring sun block and enough water. There are quite a few targets that can be seen from public roadways, but enjoying the scenery and above average archers in action comes at a price for those not prepared.