ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, June 17, 1996 TAG: 9606180035
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN OUTDOOR EDITOR
Don't expect any Olympic gold-medal shooters to stop off at Smith Mountain Lake this weekend for the Archery Shooter's Association Trebark Virginia Pro/Am Championship.
``The U.S. Olympic Archery team will not shoot one of our events, because they don't want to be embarrassed,'' said David Foster, an ASA official.
``We did a little experimentation two years ago, and we had several gold-medal archers not even hit the target,'' he said.
The targets are full-size, three-dimensional, lifelike wildlife animals - deer, bear, turkey, goats, wild hogs - succinctly called 3-D.
Olympic targets have bright gold centers ringed with red, blue, black and white, and they are placed on manicured lawns at known yardage. The ASA's 3-D targets are scattered through the woods and fields at various angles and unknown distances. You get one shot at them, and they are so realistic you've got to wonder if they will take flight before your arrow finds it mark.
``It is totally different,'' Foster said.
``I think it requires a higher degree of precision,'' said Randy Chappell, a nationally ranked pro from Craig County. ``You have a lot more variables in 3-D. You don't know the distance, so you have to estimate that. You have the added element of target angle, the position of the kill ring.''
Chappell is expected to join 250 top male and female professional archers and 1,000 or more amateurs in the championship, which has a purse of $93,000. First place pays $10,000, plus bonus points toward the $50,000 ``Shooter of the Year'' title. For the pros, each shot can be worth $300.
The three-day archery festival/championship begins Friday and has as its hosts American Electric Power Co. and Archery Roanoke Valley, a nonprofit organization headed by Sherry Crumley of Trebark Outfitters. It will be held on the power company's Pennhall property at Smith Mountain Lake.
The championship will be taped by ESPN, and spectators are invited to attend at no charge, said Joyce Waugh, a Roanoke County economic development specialist who is the event's coordinator.
Three-dimensional archery began as an off-season sport for bowhunters interested in keeping their shooting skills honed.
``It made bowhunters better at their sport, since they were able to actually practice on a life-size, three-dimensional animal target,'' Foster said.
The game still is called ``the next best thing to bowhunting,'' but it also is attracting shooters interested in it solely for the money and the fun. It is the fastest-growing form of archery.
``Three-D seems to be where everybody is going now,'' said Chappell, who is the pro at Two Flags, a 3-D range near New Castle. ``It is where the big money is.''
Chappell became a pro in 1992 and vaulted to success the next year, when he won $75,000 in cash and prizes. He is ranked second in the world in the Association of Professional Archers. He is 12th in ASA. And he is confident.
``I have a good shot at winning'' the Smith Mountain Lake tournament, he said.
Much the same can be said of Jeff Hopkins, 26, of Claytor, Del., who has won two ASA events this year and is the points leader.
``He is so far ahead of everybody, he is either going to have to fall apart or somebody is going to have to come on real strong to beat him,'' Foster said. ``Another guy who is really hot is Johnny Heath, from Horseshoe, N.C. He won $111,000 last year.''
A top woman pro is Diane Watson of Hudson, Fla., who has won back-to-back ASA tournaments this year.
But the tournament isn't just for pros. The majority of the shooters, by far, will be amateurs, some of them local archers who compete at Two Flags, Sherwood Archers in Roanoke County, and at other clubs in the region. While the pro division is full, amateurs can simply show up at the range Friday and register to compete in one of 12 divisions for a $25 fee, said Foster. There's a hunter division shoot for novices.
``This is going to be the most beautiful site we've ever been to,'' Foster said. ``It is going to be a challenging course, because of the lay of the land.''
The championship will be shot Saturday and Sunday, with participants firing on a different, 20-target range each day, followed by a shoot-off for qualifying pros. The targets will be at distances up to 45 yards. Shooters will be seeing the range for the first time when they begin their round. One arrow is shot at each target, and the top-score ring is about the size of a silver dollar.
``This will tell you how realistic the targets are,'' Foster said. ``When we set up ranges, we don't set them up too far in advance because we've had the targets attacked and torn up by wild dogs.''
In addition to the championship shoot, events are planned for participants and spectators, including a pro-am charity shoot, a children's learn-to-shoot seminar, a primitive arrow-making session and a display of the latest in archery equipment.
LENGTH: Medium: 97 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ROGER HART Staff 1. Randy Chappell of Craig County isby CNBtrying to zero-in on the success he enjoyed in 1993, when he won
$75,000. 2. Targets are so realistic they can't be set up too far
in advance for fear wild dogs will attack them. 3. map. color. KEYWORDS: MGR