Traveling archery tournament comes to Coshocton
A group of archers collect their arrows from a T- Rex target at the Rinehart R100 Archery Tournament held May 26-27 at the Coshocton Sportsman’s Club. About 450 people were expected to attend the event. Jen Jones | Beacon
COSHOCTON – The woods around the Coshocton Sportsman’s Club were filled with lions, tigers, bears and dinosaurs the weekend of May 26-27 when the Rinehart Target R100 Tournament visited Coshocton.
David Weaver, from Rinehart Target, said this was the fifth time the tournament has been to Coshocton. “Registration opened at 7:30 this morning and at 6:30, we already had a line of people waiting to sign up. We really try to make this a family event and have classes for children to adults. We have whole families that come to spend the day.”
This year, the tournament had two courses, the North American and the African. “Most of the people want to do the African first to have a chance to shoot at an elephant, giraffe, zebra and dinosaurs. A Bigfoot is even out there waiting. There are 50 life-size targets on each course,” said Weaver. About 450 people were expected to visit the tournament over the weekend.
The North American course was a little less than seven miles. Bears, moose, deer, grouse and turkey were just a few of the targets spread out along the trail. The African course had several dinosaurs (a big favorite of the children) and a Bigfoot hiding in the woods.
Karl Steiner, secretary of the Sportsman’s Club, said the Rinehart trailers arrived Tuesday and the targets were all set in place by Thursday afternoon. “We started planning and clearing the trail in late February or early March. After all the targets were set, it took another day to put up tape and arrows to make sure people stayed on the right path.” Participants were surprised when they arrived to discover how the tournament was laid out.
Many agreed it was a cool way to do the tournament and it was a fun day to walk in the woods. People who had attended before were excited to see what all had been added. The trail wound up and down ravines and through the woods. “The T-Rex is my favorite display,” said Steiner. The huge dinosaur was down a valley and appeared to be chasing a smaller dinosaur.
The African course was planned to take about four hours to complete. At the half-way point, tables were set up and food could be purchased. Many people planned to try their luck both days and although no prizes were given for the best scores, people were waiting at the end of the day to see how well they scored. Door prizes were given away at the end of the tournament Sunday afternoon.
Category: People & Places
