By Alicia Weber

The final Bullseye Scavenger Hunt of the summer proved to be the most exciting and challenging for youth and adult archers. They agreed it was everything they had hoped and they felt great with their results on August 23.

“The archery scavenger hunt gives something more to look forward to as kids use a combination of their focus and parent involvement in a family friendly activity,” said Ingrid Byer.

“The scavenger hunt is a great way to end the day because competitors are done with archery and now building teamwork with families and new friends,” added Ana Vaccaro.

Ninety-nine percent of the competition consisted of the archery, which took place on the Sundance Archery Range where it is sponsored. Youths and adults began the day by shooting 10 arrows at 10yds within four minutes for best score using bows without any sighting devices. All participants received prizes, but the top two males and females received additional prizes. The remaining one percent of the competition consisted of a photographic scavenger hunt, which gave points for fast walking and finding items in quick fashion at Downtown Clermont Famer’s Market. The participants worked as a team. All participants found 12 items in less than 15 minutes.

The top male archer was Matteo Vaccaro, 8, with his score of 64 points. Runner-Up was Cody Warner who is 6. Warner improved by 18 points from his previous competition of this same distance.The only adult in the competition was Carey Miller who won first for females with her score of 87xx and this was her first archery competition. The former Champ, Indaya Byer, took second with her score of 84x. This was the first time Byer got an “x” in competition, which is the center of the bullseye and the tiebreaker in archery. Back on August 4, Byer won an “archery fitness” challenge, which took place at National Night Out where she won a head band (which turns into an archery arm guard and finger guard).

“I felt amazing. The competition was more interesting with Carey Miller. I am glad she competed,” said Byer.

Some of the kids were longing for this competition. The competitive Matteo Vaccarro is one archer who has been waiting for this day. When he first began training seriously for archery in the spring, he would achieve 64 points after shooting nearly 100 arrows in one hour. Now, he shoots 64 points in less than 4 minutes with just 10 arrows.

“There was no pressure to win because I knew that if I lost, then my friends would win instead and I would be happy for them,” said Vaccaro who showed great sportsmanship.

“This is one sport my son enjoys the most. It’s challenging and helps him focus. The layout of this event is great because participants learn about safety and proper form in archery prior to competing, which helps them to do their best,” said Vaccaro’s mom, Ana.

One beginner, Zeke Archer, really improved after taking the free archery prep session. He really grasped the skills and brought his A game and performed very well when it really counted. Izzy Shea was the only archer shooting with a left bow, while being right-handed and left eye dominant, which is challenging for coordination. She did very well for her first-ever archery competition.

Participants enjoyed the farmer’s market scavenger hunt and met new vendors including but not limited to Rent-A-Hen, Encore, Let’s Tie One On, Donna’s Doodads, and Hip Klip Cell Pocket Accessory.

“The scavenger hunt stretches your mind to look for more things. It is similar to archery. I liked going into the Encore shop where I found oversized scramble,” said Byer.

“Leave your comfort zone and challenge yourself to try something new and fun. It feels awkward at first. Once you get the hang of it, then it’s a lot of fun,” said Miller who encourages adults to compete in future events, especially at the Sundance Archery Range where archery is sponsored.

Alicia Weber has year-round innovative archery and fitness programming and can be reached at Awinningway@gmail.com