On March 16, the Neandertal Kyudo Club hosted the 10th annual Rheingold Taikai. Before the start of the friendly competition—in which the traveling trophies, gold-plated Rhine pebbles known as the “Rheingold,” were up for grabs—Deputy Mayor Regina Wedding welcomed the participants on behalf of the city of Erkrath. Reinhard Kollotzek (5th dan) led the Yawatashi.

Five teams of three then competed in the team competition. Each team had targets with diameters of 36, 30, and 24 cm at their disposal. The archers could decide for themselves whether to rotate among the different targets in each round or have one archer stick to a specific size. All teams opted for the greater challenge of rotating, which meant that their aim had to be adjusted slightly to the size of the target repeatedly. After five rounds of four arrows each, the “Bento Box” team—featuring Hannelore Heid-Dauner (Neandertal), Dany Hückel (DJK TUS Hürth), and Thorsten Küper (PSV Bottrop) took second place ahead of “Atari” with Heinz-Jürgen Krings (SSV Bonn), Myhailo Martyniuk, and Claudius Schimanski (both from Neandertal). The “Mato doko?” team had obviously found the targets before the start, as they dominated the competition from the very beginning. Dominic Abruzzo, Thorsten Sven Lietz, and Uta Scholten (all from Neandertal) could even afford a weak fourth round with just one hit. In the final round, they extended their lead even further and secured the victory.

After the lunch break, Peter Knitsch, chairman of the Erkrath City Sports Association, visited the event and emphasized in his welcoming remarks the importance of sports for the city, to which both large recreational sports clubs and small clubs like the KVN contribute.

In the individual competition that followed, some signs of fatigue became apparent after the exciting team competition. The only female archer in the preliminary round who managed to reach the threshold for the second round—more than 50%—with five hits was Lu Markefka-Witaschek, making her the undisputed winner. A tiebreaker among the three archers with the highest scores was held to determine second and third place. Thorsten Küper, Thorsten Sven Lietz, and Uta Scholten competed once more with two arrows each. Thorsten Sven, with two hits, relegated Uta to third place; she was only able to land one arrow on the target. The calm and confident competition management by veteran referee Reinhard Kollotzek ensured a relaxed and harmonious atmosphere. Many thanks for that! This year, there was a gratifying number of newcomers among the participants, who were able to gain their first competitive experience.

For the breaks, the club members once again conjured up a rich selection of homemade dishes. There was something for every taste, whether savory or sweet. This led to a suggestion to rename the competition the “Hüftgoldtaikai.” In the end, everyone agreed that they’d had a very successful day.

See more highlights from the day in the photo gallery.

Automatically translated by DeepL