GB Team - Euros 2025 
GB sent a team of 13 archers to the European 3D Championships in Serbia In September 2025. The weather forecast for the event location was "variable" to say the least, so they packed for all eventualities. After a couple of days of practice, the team set out on two days of qualifications, with only the top 16 archers in each category going through to the elimination rounds, set for the Thursday/Friday.
The team did well, with 6 of the team getting through to the elimination rounds. Lizzy Rees missed "the cut" by 3 points, and Steve Allam by only one point. Unfortunately, Sarah Monteith flew home early with a chest infection.
At this point, the weather hit. The locals were calling it a "Siberian tongue" - a severe weather system coming in from the North, the like of which hadn't been seen for 25 years. Thursday's eliminations were cancelled due to visibility as the whole town was covered by low cloud.
On Thursday evening it started to snow, and there was a good covering of snow the next morning when the archers all assembled to shoot, only to be told that Friday was also cancelled due to a danger of falling trees. It continued to snow all day, with more than 30cm falling. Team GB kept themselves busy, building snowmen, having snowball fights (distance judging and aiming!), playing cards and practicing team shooting drills in the hotel corridors (no bows involved).
The organisers moved the eliminations to a new venue and crammed 4 days shooting into two days - on the grounds of one of the resort hotels. So whilst the shots weren't challenging, none of the rounds were cut. We went into that day with the mens team (Zach, James, Jed, Ian) sitting in 7th place, set to shoot against France, and the mixed Trad team (Jed, Natalie) sitting in 3rd place set to shoot again Denmark. Jed and Nat did an amazing job, beating the Danes by 7 points, then the Swedes by only two points to get into the Gold medal match against Austria. Some strong shooting gave them the Gold!
The men's team beat France to meet the Danish team in the ¼ finals, where they lost by a single point, putting them into the Bronze medal match against Austria. Again a close match, but the GB team shot extremely well, and won the Bronze medal.
The next day was the individuals round, split across two fields; Romaine and Kathryn fought hard in ladies barebow, both narrowly missing a place in the ¼ finals, likewise Zach in men's compound. On the other field, Ian was knocked out by the Italian Longbow archer whilst Natalie beat the Danish lady Trad to get through to the ¼ finals where she lost by a single point to the Slovak. That left Jed as our last archer on the field. Jed had suffered an injury 10 days before the event, and had only managed to pull his bow back the day before travelling. In three matches, he beat the German, French and Danish archers to secure a place in the Gold medal match against the Slovak, Michal Jellinek - a fantastic archer. After a nail biting match, Jed came away with the Silver medal.
The team are incredibly pleased with their accomplishments, at a very disrupted and "odd" tournament. Team Manager Steve Allam said "We have proved the squad concept has worked, the training days really brought us together as a team, and we are all looking forward to greater things to come!"
Rob Twigg kindly took pictures of the event for the team: https://flic.kr/ps/3vK5ct
