Archery – a sport for precision and accuracy

Archery must be one of the best known precision sports in history, if not the best known. We can only imagine how, after inventing the bow in the Stone Age, early humans have practiced precision and crossed their swords, or in this case their bows, in archery before leaving for a hunt. 

These days, archery offers thrill and excitement to everyone from a baby to a grandpa as a sport suitable to people of almost all ages. The sport also offers great variety both in equipment and forms of training and competition. The choice of equipment includes the historical longbow with wooden arrows, which represents the purest, most original form of archery. A very different option is the compound bow in which cam discs decrease the draw weight, diopter lenses help in aim and release aids give a more consistent release. Somewhere in the middle of these two extremes are recurve type bows which don’t use sighting systems, like the traditional, the barebow and the olympic bow.

In addition to a huge variety of bow types, competitive archery also includes several different forms and subsets, of which the best known is target archery. Sport lovers around the world can witness the beauty and precision of target archery at least every four years in the olympics, where a winner is sought through play-offs in 70-metre shooting. Outside the Olympics, target archery competitions take place both indoors and outdoors, and archers are able to choose from a wide range of distance categories. Another popular form is field archery, in which archers form groups of a few shooters and tour stations in wooded, rough terrain, shooting both up and downhill at targets of varying size and distance. Field archery is also divided into different types of subsets offering different types of targets such as paper marks or 3D life-size models of game. 

Tampere through the eyes of an archer

Tampere has always offered a quality setting for archery, and with the upcoming EMG2023 the conditions are improving even beyond that. The City of Tampere is building a new, beautiful outdoor shooting field for the target archery competition in Mustavuori, while the Sasi field archery track is getting a huge makeover with two brand new courses. Tampere also hosts a great training site in Osmonkallio, which is Finland’s only all-year-round available shooting field, with the option to shoot at 70m distance, which is the main competition distance in outdoors target archery.

The local archery clubs TJA and PJM are organising the EMG2023 archery events, TJA is in charge of target archery and PJM of field archery. TJA (Tampere Jousiampujat Club) is dedicated to target archery and coordinates both the Osmonkallio activities and the upcoming Mustavuori archery field. PJM (Pirkanmaa Bowhunting Club) on the other hand is a hunting club, whose purpose is to spread knowledge about bowhunting. PJM also manages the maintenance and development of the field archery track. We are proud to invite you to enjoy all our archery and weaponry experience and know-how in Tampere.

EMG 2023

Organising the EMG2023 is by far the greatest endeavour in the history of both the clubs. The task has been accepted with sincere appreciation and determination to create an unforgettable experience for all archery enthusiasts. The archery timetable is planned in a way that enables archers to compete both in the target and field archery events. 

For the first time, both events offer a selection of all bow types: longbow, traditional bow, barebow, olympic bow and compound bow. The traditional bow is a new type in the EMG format. 

We wish to warmly welcome all archers to compete in Tampere.

PS. After EMG2023, field archery enthusiasts might wish to extend their trip to Rovaniemi in Northern Finland, the venue of WBHC2023 and two more competitions of the same shooting distance in field archery. All the more reason to come and cross your bows in Finland!