Cariboo Archers, both junior and adult, traversed to two different destinations during the Easter weekend for shoots.
First, five Cariboo Archers travelled to Armstrong for the BC Archery Association Indoor Target Championships joining roughly 130 competitors at the meet.
Junior archer Ty Thurow shot to a first-place finish, beating his own B.C. record by 12 points and finishing 163 points ahead of second place.
His sister, Joelle, also took home first place, beating her own record by 150 points.
Emersyn Sanford, meanwhile, placed second and, in the process, beat Joelle’s previous record.
“Joelle is 11 years old and Emersyn is only nine,” their coach, Al Campsall said. “Super job by both girls.”
The Thurows’ mom and dad, Mary and Bob, also had successful meets. Mary finished first and Bob placed fourth, missing third by just two points.
Four other Cariboo Archers had to choose the BC Target Championships in Armstrong or the Canadian 3D Championships in Lac La Biche, Alta. where 270 competitors were set to square off.
Fred Streleoff, Dan Mobbs, Ernie Schmid and Al Campsall chose to brave a horrendous Alberta snowstorm.
Campsall said all four shot well and represented the community well.
First, the Cariboo Archers’ three instinctive recurve archers battled it out the entire weekend and, when the dust settled and for the first time in history, all three men standing on the podium came from the same club.
Streleoff won his ninth Canadian championship. Schmid came from behind and edged out Mobbs for second and third, respectively.
“No other instinctive archer from across Canada came close to our lads,” Campsall said.
Campsall also came from behind to win his 19th Canadian championship in the compound bow division.
“After the final rounds, all four of us qualified for the Grand Prix whereby the top eight archers from across Canada, young and old, compete head to head in an elimination scenario.
Mobbs and Schmid made it into the late elimination rounds of the traditional categories, but Streleoff made the final two and only missed the final shot by millimetres.
“The other archer’s arrow was a tiny bit closer to the centre,” Campsall said. “Very exciting finish. Of note is the fact that in the Grand Prix all of our lads were competing against superiorly-equipped archers — the others shoot different gear.”
Next, the Grand Prix compound competition began where Campsall joked he was the only “codger” in the competition.
“None of the other masters men’s scores were high enough to make the top eight,” he said.
After the eight shooter-head elimination, Campsall emerged with the trophy — a $700 moose-antler carving of a fox.
“The crowd was pretty raucous when the old man beat all the young bucks,” he said.
This was the second time Campsall has beaten all the younger archers in the Grand Prix. In 2014, Campsall won the Outdoor 3D Championships Grand Prix, also held in Lac La Biche.
Next up for the Cariboo Archers is the club’s Fun 3D Flatfield Shoot this weekend at the Williams Lake Sportsmen’s Association Clubhouse on Bond Lake Road.
“This is a fun family affair for all archers of whatever skill level,” Campsall said.
The event starts at 9 a.m. Saturday, but Campsall said archers can start whenever they want. The last 15-target round, however, starts at 3 p.m. Sunday. The event gets underway at 8 a.m. with the last round starting at noon.
