Paralympic Archery

Bobet and I join Hamish and Margret at the Royal Artillery Barracks.

Bobet and I begin by taking the Jubilee line to North Greenwich where we see our first glimpse of the Dome - more on that tomorrow. From there we take the bus to the Royal Artillery Barracks.

We make our way into the Archery stands. As soon as we sit down a quick phone call locates Hamish & Margret seated just behind us. We instantly get an appreciation for the scale of the task, a 70m range with a bulls eye the size of a CD. I pre-empted this by bringing a new pair of binoculars, however the organisers provided us all with a big screen.

We see the quarterfinals of the "Women's Team Recurve - Open" including Great Britain, who unfortunately lose to Korea 188 - 153. Followed by the quarterfinals of the "Men's Team Recurve - Open" again including Great Britain who beat Chinese Taipei 195 - 179.

We break for lunch, Singapore Noodles with a Heineken beer in a plastic bottle, and find a stretch of grass on which to sit and eat.

At this point we believe that this is the end of the competition that our tickets allow. Curiosity takes us to the white building with orange circular markings opposite. We are directed inside and accent several flights of stairs to emerge on a seated balcony overlooking the shooting range, where we're pleasantly surprised to see a final of the "Men's R7-50m Rifle 3 Positions-SH1" and even more so to see the resulting medal ceremony, especially when they bring the medal platform forward so that people on the balcony can also see happy

At the end of the shooting competition we walk back to the Archery arena where we're invited and directed to see more Archery, again ascending several flights of stairs to balcony seats, in a now packed arena. We’re lucky enough to see the semi-finals of the "Men's Team Recurve - Open" including Great Britain who lose to Korea 197 - 190. Next are the finals of the "Women's Team Recurve - Open” followed by the finals of the "Men's Team Recurve - Open" which sadly sees Great Britain losing out on a medal to China 206 - 193. To finish the day, we’re privileged to see the two resulting men’s and women’s medal ceremonies big grin

We say goodbye to Hamish & Margret and take the bus back to North Greenwich. From there we take the tube out to Stratford where we see the Olympic Stadium and the Orbit lit up in the night sky. We walk in to Westfield shopping centre for dinner at Sticky Rice before taking the tube home.

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