Maybe shoot me instead...

So still walking the line of anything that can go wrong will go wrong. I spent a week in Launceston for work staying in the biggest rathole I've ever seen - Hotel Launceston. Not only does it look like the kind of rat hole where junkies die in the corridors and dodgy 3rd rate hit men get what's coming in SVU, but it operates like one too. Keeping in mind this was not my choice of hotel, but where I ended up when my booking elsewhere got lost in the never never and I had to make last minute arrangements.

It might seem petty, but I would like to point out to the hotel proprietors that toast and juice does not a European Breakfast make. The only power points to plug in the 'European' toaster were nice and close to the ancient smoke detector so my breakfast was announced loudly with a not so charming serenade that only stopped with the waving of towels and opening of doors somewhat reminiscent of days long ago living in rathole rentals where the smoke alarms only work when the toaster is in use but make nary a whisper when black billowing smoke fills the apartment.

Post breakfast remains sat on their trays in the dark dodgy corridors for two days providing ample leavings for the rats that I'm sure were not starving with no evidence of cleaning staff to be found until my last day when I was well past caring.

But the following week my world looked up and my hon (Martin Damsbo) came to Australia for some pre world cup practice. Our friend Sherry Gale (Australian 2013 Silver Medalist) also came down for a catch up. The night they rocked in we had 96km winds and rain and we all speculated on what one does with oneself in Launceston when the archery weather is not just crappy but revolting. But true to Launnie form we woke to blue skies and not a breath of wind for the next week. Martin shot a new Danish record (710@50m) and the less said about my shooting the better, but I learned a lot and got some much needed practice in.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSNu7XlWLH4

We flew into Shanghai a day earlier than the rest and had the practice field to ourselves for a few hours before we were swimming in Koreans... gosh there were a lot of them. My ranking round was a horror and possibly the worst I have shot in competition. Martin shot a repeat of his Danish record (smarty pants :P) and the Danish and Australian teams accounted for themselves respectably. I shot great in the matchplay and would have taken the first match if I hadn't left my brain at home and shot a 9 on the wrong target.

Photo taken from www.archery.org

Martin sailed through his matches with ease including defeating Reo Wilde in the semi finals for a spot in the Gold Medal match and perhaps the most notable match of the day was Aussie Taylor Worth vs Brady Ellison with Taylor taking his 4th win in a row against the USA favourite. Much as I think Brady is a complete lovely, it's a bit awesome watching Taylor take down this titan of archery fame, match after match. Everyone loves an underdog.

Taylor Worth

And while sensible people in the world think being on holidays rocks... in the archery world it means you shot crap and have joined the spectators for the rest of the comp. So I spent a week kicking myself, wishing I was competing in the nasty polluted rain with the rest, training every chance I got and playing support crew to my man and anyone else who needed a gofer... and maybe getting in a shopping trip or two - cheerfully getting cheated by vendors left and right but walking away thinking I had a bargain which signifies that very best sort of deal where everyone wins or at least thinks they did... and then realising you just spent an hour bargaining over $2 and feeling a little bad that you didn't pay more.

At the finals the Aussie men placed 4th in the bronze medal match and it was grand to see green and gold on the line. Perhaps a good sign for the coming world target :)

and much pride watching Martin take Silver for Denmark against Braden Gellenthien in the Gold medal match.

Now home again with a new resolve and 3 weeks before World Cup 2 in Turkey. Am I prepared for this years cup season? Probably not. But it has been a long time since I was good enough to qualify and  you need to get your feet wet again at some point.

There's an awful lot of losing that goes into winning and I figure that sooner or later I will have done my share :)