Great Britain’s archery team held a successful 24-hour shoot to increase access to the sport for disabled people.
The shoot took place from 12 noon to 12 noon on 27 and 28 November at the Performance Archery Centre at Lilleshall National Sports Centre in Shropshire. The athletes performed their feat of endurance while raising awareness of the Access Archery Fund. The fund awards grants to clubs and activity partners to improve access to the sport for disabled people.
The athletes encouraged fans and archers to donate to support the fund, and they also ran a have-a-go with members of the public invited along to give archery a go at the home of the Olympic and Paralympic programme. Across the shoot, they raised £605 from donations and Access Archery Fund badge sales.
Gayle Pink, Head of Participation at Archery GB, said: “I’m so proud of our athletes. They’ve organised everything themselves, the idea came from them as a way to support the Access Archery Fund and everyone jumped on board with it.”
Among those taking part were Tokyo Paralympic Champion Phoebe Paterson Pine and Paris Olympians Penny Healey, Alex Wise, and Megan Havers. They were joined by national compound squad members Patience Wood, Layla Annison, and Izzy Carpenter.
The athletes signed up for blocks of time ensuring shooting happened continuously over the 24-hour period. During the shoot, a total of 6,998 arrows were shot with each arrow representing a mile towards LA which was plotted onto a map.
Alex Wise said: “We hit our goal just before 5am, our goal was to shoot as many arrows as there are miles from the Archery Centre to LA, just a little over 5,400. We hit that with seven hours to spare. I’m a bit wrecked this morning; I’ve had five hours sleep, but it was for a good cause.”
Phoebe Paterson Pine said: “As somebody with a disability, it’s hard enough to be involved in sport, let alone do something like this for a career. Archery has benefited me so much in so many different ways that I just want other people to be able to experience that as well.”
GB squad member Archie Bromley took part and also ran a have-a-go for the public to come along and try archery. He said: “Challenges like this bring us together, make us a better team and better archers as well, so it’s great.”
The Access Archery Fund was launched this year by Archery GB, the national governing body for the sport, and the Fletchers’ Trust, the charitable arm of the Worshipful Company of Fletchers which supports disabled archers from grassroots to Paralympic level. From next year, clubs and Archery Activity Partners will be able to apply for small grants to fund projects, equipment and training to support more disabled people into the sport.
Donations to the fund are still open. To find out more or to make a donation, click this link.
