Thanks Kae - I stand corrected (can't stop thinking army I'm afraid)
I'm certain that early last year I came across a rule in the FITA rule book that stated that shooting had to be conducted exposed to the weather but I can't find this reference anymore.
If this requirement has been dropped then I say it's a good thing for a couple of really good reasons.
Firstly, the sun down here in summer is murderous and dangerous to boot. We have the highest rate of skin cancer in the world so it has always surprised me that we haven't made a special case for covered shooting lines here.
Two weekends ago it was so bad that I was in a state of collapse and had to leave soon after I arrived at the club and apparently everyone else packed up and left after me because the conditons were so bad and this included some of our fittest and keenest archers. I'm sure our insurance company could consider it a genuine hazard and not cover us for any illnesses arising from excess sun.
Secondly, when it rains (if it is ever going to again), at this time of year we get really fearsome thunderstorms which come in really quickly and they are accompanied by heaps of lightning. I've been caught in them whilst shooting at one of the Brisbane clubs and I thought it was plain bloody stupid and dangerous to keep going.
I recently saw a doco on Foxtel of a golfer who had been struck by lightning. He lived but it has taken him years to recover and he still hasn't got all of his facilities back again.
So from those two points of view I think cover is a must.
This is the sort of set up I wish we had at our club:
I don't mind getting wet in my sport - I just don't want it to kill me.
