Closest to the Spider

The Spider is the tiny '+' mark at the exact centre of the target face.

In order to break a tie in some archery competitions, it can come down to a single arrow shoot-off between archers, to see who is closest to the centre (spider) of the target face.

In order to commemorate that harrowing finale, our club often has a challenge/tradition of having a Closest to the Spider competition, within an existing competition.

Jokingly, we have often said at the last end of a competition, that it is worth double points, or that the winner is to be decided by the whoever has the arrow that is closest to the spider in the final end. Insinuating that all the previous arrows shot (72, 90, 120, or even 144) were all just practice for this final end.

Having made that joke & tradition for so long, we decided to formalise it in 2025 with offering the Closest to the Spider award/badge.

Often, the winner is also the best archer on the day, as it stands to reason that they are the most accurate person there & most likely to have the closest arrow. However, the Archery Gods™ often have different ideas, allowing even the least skilled or accurate archer to pull off a fantastic shot under the pressure.