GLOUCESTERSHIRE archer Lucy Mason has been crowned European Junior Champion in Bucharest after lifting the gold medal in the compound cadet category.

Lucy, from Gloucester, is a member of the Deer Park Archers in Shurdington and her club mate James Howse collected a silver medal for GB as part of a three-strong team in the compound cadet men's team final.

Mason's journey started with success over GB team-mate Layla Annison, top seed Elisaveta Koroleva of Russia and Croatia's Amanda Mlinaric, before she tackled Estonia's Liseli Jaatma in the final.

It was a hard-fought contest but Lucy seized the initiative to take a two-point lead before going on to win the title.

The top two seeds, Turkey and Great Britain, battled out the compound cadet men's final and despite putting up a terrific performance, Howse, Adam Carpenter and Jake Walsh were edged out by just two points.

Roger Crang, of Deer Park Archers, said: "Lucy's success was achieved despite an injury and it reflects an incredible amount of dedication from Lucy, her coach (Steph Gill) and parental support.

"After Lucy won the British Senior title late last year, they decided to dismantle her technique, concluding that while it was good enough to win national titles it was not going to support her becoming world champion – and that is her clear goal.

"So the first six months of this year has seen a considerable change, and it is already paying off big time.

"Lucy is now winning national series events at a senior level and in an earlier round of the Euros she beat the national record by two points.

"James did exceptionally well as not only was he the top scorer on the GB team but he outscored all the Turkish archers too.

"He had been knocked out of the individual competition at the quarter final stage on a single-arrow shoot-off, despite shooting a 10.

"James equalled the national record during the tournament.

"Meanwhile, his brother Tom recently returned from a competition in the USA with an individual gold, so he is also doing well."

Deer Park have recently implemented a regular round robin head-to-head competition among a group of its top and aspiring archers to boost their skills and experience in winning individual matches.

The Euros results suggest this is already paying massive dividends.