Interkingdom Archery Competitions: AS XXXXI

Lorenzo's scores for previous years may be found at http://scores-sca.org/ikac/previous_ikac.php?DL=Y.

My scores for previous years may be found here: A. S. XXXXV (2010 AD), A. S. XXXXII, A. S. XXXXI, A. S. XXXX (2005 AD), A. S. XXXVIIII, A. S. XXXVIII, A. S. XXXVII, A. S. XXXVI, A. S. XXXV (2000 AD), A. S. XXXIIII, A. S. XXXIII, A. S. XXXII, A. S. XXXI, A. S. XXX (1995 AD).

Greetings from Lorenzo il Confuso, Keeper of the IKAC

The Final standings for Season XXIX of the IKAC/IKCAC competion are as follows:

Open division

Period division

Period Crossbow division

Open Crossbow division

IKCAC

Children division

Youth division

FINAL SEASON NOTES

1. A HUGE Thank You!! to all the archers who participated, all the marshals who ran shoots and sent in the scores, and to Cera and Ariel, who centralize submissions for their Kingdoms prior to passing it on to me. This competition would not happen without ALL of you, and I am very, very grateful, and humbled by your dedication.

2. Over 1400 scores from 600+ archers representing 14 Kingdoms were received during the Season, just slighly above last year's numbers. However, I was particularly happy to see very healthy growth in divisions other than the Open. For example, we more than doubled the number of archers shooting in the Children Division, grew by 30%+ on the Period Division, and even the IKCAC had some small growth. The Youth Division was a success, in my mind, with 13 archers from 5 Kingdoms submitting scores, and I will continue it next year, under the same scoring rules as this year.

3. As in previous year's, the medallions will be sent shortly to the winning archers. As I have always stated, I would like to see the winning team's worthy achievements recognized at a suitable venue, for example at a Kingdom Court or whatever each Kingdom would prefer. Therefore, if any of the Archer-Generals from the Winning Kingdoms is interested in handing out the Medallions, please contact me in the next few weeks to make arrangements. Alternatively, I am of course very happy to send the Medallions directly to the winning archers. Please let me know your preference.

4. The Medallions will be the same as last year, same design and engraving, and unique combination of ribbons depending on the division. I have received much positive feedback on these new Medallions, and I am happy to be able to offer them again (you can see pictures of them at the website). If anyone cares to send me a picture of an archer receiving their Medallion at Court, I would love to put them on the website. Finally, I am always on the lookout for ideas on what could be done to reward each archer that contributes to the their Kingdom having an average in one or any Division. If you have any suggestions, please don't hesitate to send them on.

5. As is stated in the rules, the Medallions will go to the 3 archers whose average made their Kingdom a winner in each Division. As last year, however, there are two exceptions:

a) In the Open Division, Medallions will be awarded to BOTH the 1st-place (Gold Medallions and 2nd-place Kingdom (Silver Medallions)

b) In the Youth Division, the top 3 archers overall, regardless of Kingdom, will be the only ones receiving Medallions.

6. I would like to take a second to thank each and everyone of you who has taken time out of their day or activities during the season to send me a letter with questions, comments, suggestions and complaints. Please know that I consider each one most carefully. In several cases, some of these requests will lead to changes for next year, some small, some more far-reaching. In others they have led to considerable inquries to try to come up with the best way to proceed. You will see more detail about some of these things in the next week. But I wanted to take the time to thank each of you for your thoughts and counsel, all of which continues to be of great use to me by allowing me to make the competition one that you enjoy. Please keep them coming.

7. With this report, I officially close Season XXIX of the IKAC/IKCAC competition. In just a few weeks, on 1 February, we will start Season XXX. That in itself is an amazing achievement, 30 years of uninterrupted competition amongst the archers of the Knowne World. This would have not come to pass without Sir Jon FitzRauf, who invented the competition and ran it for many years, and Giovanni Dell'Arco, who took over from Sir Jon and did a great job, before passing it on to me. But mostly, it would not have happened without the thousands of archers who shot countless IKACs through the 30 years, and the Thousand of Marshals who ran them, and sent the scores in, via snail-mail or email. You are what makes this competition so unique in the Society, in terms of participants that literally span the Knowne Worlde, and have allowed it to live uninterrupted for 30 years, something that is unmatched by any other such activity in our Society. I am humbled to have the opportunity to serve you, and I want again you to know that this is YOUR competition, and that I am absolutely committed to the competition, its archers, and everything it represents: the Archers of the Knowne World representing their Kingdom by taking the time to shoot a tough, complex shoot. Thanks again to all of you, and congratulations on your outstanding contributions.

Hoping to see all of you, and perhaps even more, next year I remain, Your most humble servant, - Lorenzo

Webbed by Gregory Blount of Isenfir (Greg Lindahl)