A TALENTED young Garnock Valley archery ace is celebrating double medal glory.

Jonathan Ralston (11) from Dalry recently competed in the JNOC (Junior National Outdoor Championships).

On the opening day, he shot a Metric IV round, scoring 1221 and this earned him a silver medal, as he finished 22 points behind the winner.

Twenty-four hours later, he shot a Bristol IV (this is an imperial round shot at yards rather than metres).

Here he scored 1170 to earn him a bronze medal.

This was a very close fought round with only 11 points separating the top three archers.

He scored a near-perfect score at the 20 yard element hitting the gold with 23 out of 24 arrows - the other arrow hitting the red.

That one red arrow cost him the silver medal as there was only one point between him and the boy who got silver.

On the Saturday the Scotland team came third, with Jonathan getting the highest male recurve score in the team.

The weekend delivered unbelievable heat to shoot in and competitors were there for around 12 hours each day to include set up, shooting and medal ceremony.

All in all it wasn’t a bad result for his first British tournament.

Meanwhile the Interim Outdoor Rankings have just been published and will be regularly updated during the outdoor season.

Jonathan is currently sitting third in the Male Recurve Section (U18s).

The Dalry youngster first picked up a bow in the summer of 2013 aged six.

He is a member of Irvine Toxophilities and represents them in competitions.

He shoots two nights a week, currently outdoors.

He also shoots on a Thursday night at Inverclyde Sports Centre with Largs Archery Club, where he is coached by Douglas McCourt.

The 11-year-old has amassed more than 30 medals, is the current West of Scotland U12s champion and also holds nine Scottish records.