When the 2019 Canadian National Archery Championships take place in Prince Albert from Aug. 2-11, it will mark the completion of a four-year process by the Timberland Bowbenders to bring the event here.
“Archery Canada has a list of provinces that get to host the event in a rotation, and the last time Saskatchewan hosted a national event was in 2011 when Delisle hosted the target and field competitions,” said Timberland Bowbenders president John Cannon, who is a co-chair for the event along with Stacey Moran.
“We started the planning process for this in 2015 as we wanted to go after hosting a national event after hosting a number of competitions over the years. The Saskatchewan Archery Association approved our application to host and then we found out from Archery Canada in 2017 that we would get to host the nationals two years later.”
Although the final number of athletes has yet to be set in stone, organizers are expecting around 850 participants to compete in the 3D, field and target events.
“This is going to be a boost for our economy and it is also going to showcase Prince Albert to archers from around the country,” Cannon said. “There are a number of very talented competitors from Saskatchewan that will be here and they’ll have a chance to see how their talents match up with the rest of Canada.
“I think we’re going to have around 10-15 archers from the Bowbenders that will be competing and that’s going to be great for them to take part in the event at the hosts. We’d love for them to come away with a medal, but our main goal is for them to get some personal bests and learn what it’s like to compete at a national event.”
Three different venues will be used for the championships; with the 3D competition will take place on the upper plains of Little Red River Park from Aug. 2-5.
The field event will be held at the Prince Albert Wildlife Federations Grounds on Aug. 6-7, while the Red Wing School Grounds will play host to the target competition from Aug. 8-11.
“Everyone’s been great to work with when it comes to getting the locations set,” Cannon said. “Everything’s close by as well so you’ll probably see competitors take part in two events, or perhaps all three of them.
“One of our goals is to draw interest to the sport locally and there’s no admission fee for anyone who wants to check out the event.”
For more information on the nationals, contact Cannon at 306-961-5854 or via email at j.cannon@sasktel.net.
