Dave Leaderhouse
Special to the Herald
In what is becoming a rite of spring the Prince Albert Timberland Bowbenders Archery Club once again were hosts for the Saskatchewan Archery Association’s provincial indoor championships this past weekend at the Alfred Jenkins Field House.
Close to 400 competitors from 27 clubs across the province were seeking titles in a number of age classes for both male and female divisions with competitions held in the recurve and compound bow disciplines.
In addition to the provincial event, which was held in two heats on Sunday, the Junior Olympic Program also attracted another 400 competitors on Saturday making for an exhausting, but rewarding experience for the host club.
“Every year it gets better and better,” says Bowbenders president Tiffany Jones. “Each year we find out what we are doing wrong (and right).”
The Bowbenders are apparently doing a lot right as this championship completed a five-year bid the local group submitted back in 2021 to be the hosts and they were also the site of the provincial finals for several years before that. Jones said the organizing committee will take some time to consider a possible bid for future championships, but having a facility like the Alfred Jenkins Field House makes the decision easier and is also attractive for both the provincial body and the competitors.
The Bowbenders emerged from Sunday’s championship with a pair of gold medals, five silver-medal finishes and one bronze medal.
Topping the men’s compound bow field, which is open to competitors 21-50 years of age, was Tristan Spicer-Moran who narrowly beat club mate Carl Bothma 583-573. Spicer-Moran is a perennial favorite in the event and has represented Prince Albert at a number of provincial and national events.
Pacey Lavoie also won gold when he captured first place in the under-15 men’s barebow event. Barebow is a recurve archery discipline that strips away all aids such as sights, stabilizers and clickers. Bohdan Guedo was also in that event and finished second.
In addition to Bothma and Guedo other silver-medal finishes by local shooters were turned in by Seth Werner – under-13 men recurve, Olivia Best – under-18 women recurve and Gage Malenfant – under-21 men compound. Willow Werner collected the lone bronze medal for the Bowbenders finishing one point out of second in the under-13 women recurve.
While the provincial championships had competitors firing a total of 60 arrows each with competitions specifically designated to age, gender and discipline, the JOP event on Saturday was unique in that all participants were vying for badge levels thus they could be shooting against archers much older or younger depending on the situation.
Shooting took place at three different distances – 10, 15 and 18 metres – with specific totals required to achieve the badge they were shooting for. The Bowbenders had 28 shooters competing in the event with participants ranging in age from six to 21.
The weekend activities concludes a busy indoor season that also featured a number of club meets with the focus now turning to the outdoor archery season where Prince Albert will once again host provincials when they are staged in late July at the Wildlife Federation facility.
Jones says that while the outdoor season isn’t as popular as the indoor campaign she says the sport continues to grow not just locally, but province wide.
“It’s an individual sport and you get so much out of it,” says Jones. “You get to learn to calm yourself during different situations and you get to meet new friends.”
The Bowbenders generally have an open house once a year to allow people an opportunity to gauge for themselves if archery is something that might interest them and from there they then offer plenty of training and competitive opportunities. Information will be posted on the Bowbenders Facebook page when the next open house will be offered along with details on registration dates for either the upcoming outdoor season or the next indoor season which will commence at the end of October.
