What is a WA 1440 competition?

Posted on June 14th, 2017 by 2020

We were just about to hit send on a club newsletter telling people about the latest WA1440 competition and we suddenly thought, ‘What if I was a novice archer? Would I have any clue what a ‘WA’ (World Archery) or WRS (World Record Status) competition and what does 1440 even mean?’ So we wrote this just for you…….

A WA1440 is a metric round (as opposed to Imperial) where you shoot 3x dozen arrows (36) at 90m, followed by 3x dozen arrows at each of the following distances: 70m, 50m and 30m.

36x arrows at each distance gives a total of 144 arrows shot… each arrow is worth a maximum ten points and – therefore – a maximum score of 1440 points can be achieved.

The ladies 1440 (also known as a Metric 1) is 3x dozen (36 arrows) shot at 70m, 60m, 50m and 30m.

The longer distances (90m and 70m for men and 70m and 60m for women) are shot at a 122cm target face, the shorter distances (50m and 30m for both) are shot at an 80cm target face.

 

This round uses the world archery rules of shooting and uses 10 zone scoring (generally speaking, probably the one you’re used to!).

There is a really comprehensive guide to Scoring and Tournaments on the Archery GB website here : http://www.archerygb.org/tools/documents/12ScoringTournaments3-[14276].pdf

 

What do I need to know to go to a 1440 competition?

  • You need to be a member of Archery GB (previously called GNAS or Grand National Archery Society) this can be organised through your club and costs approximately £40. This will get you your own insurance for shooting at any other Archery GB / GNAS club, and it will get you on the mailing list for the regular Archery UK magazine which has details of other competitions.
  • You need to wear green or white and it has to be the specific green prescribed by Archery GB (covered in the Rules of Shooting Point 307 ‘a’ – you can read more here) or club colours (2020 Archery club colours are navy blue shirt and black trousers). Footwear must be completely enclosed (Rules of Shooting 307 ‘b’ in case you were wondering).

You must have practiced in advance at these distances and, as a rough indication, you’ll need to be shooting a bow which has at least 30+ lb limbs to reach 70m accurately.