In last year' s meeting, I voiced my dissent against the ruling to divide the already miniscule RU class even farther into RU and HR. My concerns were validated during the 2003 World Championship fiasco where a grand total of 27 (or 28?) shooters made up the class, down from 65 the previous year. And it will be smaller next year by at least one. It just isn' t feasible to travel hundreds of miles and spend a thousand dollars and several days to compete in a class that doesn' t offers less to the winner than the $500.00 gift certificate the hunter class winners get. The reward of the first place winner knowing he beat all of about 2 dozen shooters doesn' t warrant the trip, either. Most of the remaining shooters are still the best recurve shooters in the country, but that' s little consolation. At least the IBO made it easy to pick their 3DI RU team representative since the number of shooters this year has been small enough that you can keep track of them with fingers and toes. Next year, they probably won' t even have to take their shoes off to keep track of them.

I feel a great sadness seeing the last remnant of the golden age of traditional archery agonizing in it' s death throes. Perhaps the Neo-Traditional shoot-off-the-shelf-at-short-yardage community will soon be all that' s left of it.

I never thought I' d see the day when the IBO had a large class of crossbow shooters and so few RU shooters that the class gets eliminated, but that looks like the way of the future. As the saying goes: All good things have to come to an end.