The 14th annual Lancaster Archery Classic will take place Jan. 27-29, at Spooky Nook Sports, 75 Champ Blvd., Manheim, Pennsylvania.
Over 1,000 archers from 13 countries–including the majority of the sport’s best athletes–will compete in this unique tournament for over $150,000 in cash and prizes from Lancaster Archery Supply. In addition, another $190,000 in potential contingency awards will be supplied by equipment manufacturers. The top prize of $15,000–plus thousands more in contingency money–will be paid to the Men’s Open Pro champion.
The Classic is the largest indoor archery tournament on the East Coast, which is why it draws many of the sport’s biggest stars, including World Archery’s top three archers in Men’s Compound: Mike Schloesser of Netherlands, Stephan Hansen of Denmark and Reo Wilde of USA.
Also registered to compete are 2016 Olympic bronze medalist Brady Ellison of USA, top-ten World Archery Women’s Compound archers Linda Ochoa-Anderson of Mexico and Toja Ellison of Slovenia, as well as dozens of other elite, well-known archers such as Jesse Broadwater, Levi Morgan and Mackenzie Brown.
The competition also draws a large amateur crowd, with payouts, $50,000 in door prizes and live video coverage for all 15 divisions.
Footage from the three-day tournament will be broadcast live on YouTube, lancasterarchery.com and Blue Ridge Cable TV 11, attracting tens of thousands of TV and online viewers.
The Classic’s format is what makes it so popular. One bad arrow doesn’t necessarily eliminate an archer from contention.
On Friday, Jan. 27, each competitor will shoot a qualification round of 60 arrows at targets 18 meters away. A perfect score would be 660, since the inner-most bull’s-eye ring–about the size of a penny–scores 11 points.
After ranking archers’ Friday qualification scores, the field in each of the 15 competition divisions will be whittled down to top finishers, who will shoot head-to-head elimination rounds in a bracket style competition on Saturday morning.
Finalists in each division will emerge from those brackets to compete in 12-arrow shoot-up style elimination rounds, where lower-ranked archers can shoot their way up to the top to win the competition. Some divisions will compete in their shoot-ups Saturday afternoon, while the remaining divisions–including Men’s Open Pro-will finish Sunday.
Besides the competition, more than 40 vendors will have booths set up at the venue, showcasing the latest and greatest in target archery equipment. The 200,000 square foot, TRUBALL/AXCEL Archery Hall can accommodate up to 2,000 archers within the 17-acre Spooky Nook Sports Complex. Seminars will be conducted all day Friday by various industry experts in the Carbon Express Olympic Hall.
Tournament hours are 8 a.m.-8 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 27; 8 a.m.-8 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 28; 8 a.m.-3 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 29. Spectators are invited to attend the competition for free, however Spooky Nook charges for parking.
If you would like to speak to a Lancaster Archery Supply representative, come out and cover the event, and/or speak to any of the archers, please contact P.J. Reilly at 717-575-3039 or pjreilly@lancasterarchery.com.
Lancaster Archery Supply thanks its 2017 Classic sponsors: TRU Ball/Axcel, Hoyt, Dead Center, Carbon Express, Mathews, Black Eagle, Carter, Bloodsport, Doinker, BCY, Victory, Scott, CBE, Easton, Shrewd, SKB, Shibuya, Gold Tip, B-Stinger, Vortex Optics, American Whitetail, Top Hat, Stan, Win&Win, Cartel, Prime, Elite, Leupold, PSE, Gateway, Last Chance, Gearhead, Limbsaver, Neet, Beiter, Big Shot Targets, Speciality Archery, Flex Fletch, AAE Feather Vision, Spot Hogg, Rinehart, Bohning, Bowtech, HHA, Sure Loc, Competition Archery, Yeti and Maple Leaf.
Looks like it’s gonna be a blast!
We think so too Nick! Thanks for reading!