They may keep a low profile, but it appears several members of Uller’s Archers are pretty handy with a bow and arrow.
Four members of the local archery club — Peggy Colbourne, Dennis Colbourne, Shannon Sweetland and Trevor Finlay — had impressive averages when the results were tabulated for the 2014 Archery Canada Indoor Mailmatch Tournament. The annual event sees archers from across Canada submit one score per week for 13 weeks, with the top six scores giving each archer a tournament average at the conclusion.
Peggy Colbourne of Corner Brook, who has been immersed in archery for 20 years, won a silver medal in the senior women’s compound division and gold in Class C with a 277.5 average.
It is the first time she participated in the tournament since 1999 when she captured gold as a junior competitor.
“It’s just great to be shooting again and to have everyone around you shooting and trying to compete in tournaments,” she said. “I shot better than I did last time so that was my goal, to actually shoot a better average.”
Dennis Colbourne, who is Peggy’s brother, claimed gold in the senior men’s recurve division and gold in the 560 Club Class with a 284.17 average — 300 being a perfect score — in a strong field of the top archers from coast to coast.
He picked up his first bow and arrow 25 years ago and had fun with a sport that afforded him an opportunity to represent Newfoundland and Labrador in archery at the 1997 Canada Summer Games in Brandon, Man.
He took a 10-year hiatus, but found himself wanting to get involved again when he started teaching at Corner Brook High four years ago. Colbourne wanted to see if he could get more of the high school students involved in the sport once he arrived there.
He also hopes his children — four-year-old Juliettte and 10-month-old Isaac — will see the sport the same way he does one day.
“It’s something different. It’s not the typical sports that have been around Corner Brook forever like basketball or volleyball," he said, noting there is some 40 active archers involved in the sport on the local scene.
As for his medal haul, he did better than he envisoned.
“My goal was to place in the Top 10 so I was definitely pleasantly surprised,” he said.
Sweetland finished 12th in the senior men’s bowhunter open division and nabbed gold in the Expert B class with a 270 average, while Finlay placed ninth in senior men’s compound with a 278 average.
Sweetland got involved with archery two years ago because he was interested in hunting with a bow and arrow instead of a rifle. He killed his first moose with bow and arrow. He grew up hunting on the east coast with his dad and brother, but he was always the guy lugging the moose out of the woods not shooting it.
Hunting with a bow and arrow seemed like a better fit because he thought it would be more challenging.
He could only muster enough time to get six rounds sent in for his first mailmatch event, so he was quite surprised with how he ranked among the best in the country, especially since it had been the first time he took his bow out since the fall.
“If I was practising I would have done a lot better, but that’s that’s the way it goes — there’s only so much time,” Sweetland said.
They may keep a low profile, but it appears several members of Uller’s Archers are pretty handy with a bow and arrow.
Four members of the local archery club — Peggy Colbourne, Dennis Colbourne, Shannon Sweetland and Trevor Finlay — had impressive averages when the results were tabulated for the 2014 Archery Canada Indoor Mailmatch Tournament. The annual event sees archers from across Canada submit one score per week for 13 weeks, with the top six scores giving each archer a tournament average at the conclusion.
Peggy Colbourne of Corner Brook, who has been immersed in archery for 20 years, won a silver medal in the senior women’s compound division and gold in Class C with a 277.5 average.
It is the first time she participated in the tournament since 1999 when she captured gold as a junior competitor.
“It’s just great to be shooting again and to have everyone around you shooting and trying to compete in tournaments,” she said. “I shot better than I did last time so that was my goal, to actually shoot a better average.”
Dennis Colbourne, who is Peggy’s brother, claimed gold in the senior men’s recurve division and gold in the 560 Club Class with a 284.17 average — 300 being a perfect score — in a strong field of the top archers from coast to coast.
He picked up his first bow and arrow 25 years ago and had fun with a sport that afforded him an opportunity to represent Newfoundland and Labrador in archery at the 1997 Canada Summer Games in Brandon, Man.
He took a 10-year hiatus, but found himself wanting to get involved again when he started teaching at Corner Brook High four years ago. Colbourne wanted to see if he could get more of the high school students involved in the sport once he arrived there.
He also hopes his children — four-year-old Juliettte and 10-month-old Isaac — will see the sport the same way he does one day.
“It’s something different. It’s not the typical sports that have been around Corner Brook forever like basketball or volleyball," he said, noting there is some 40 active archers involved in the sport on the local scene.
As for his medal haul, he did better than he envisoned.
“My goal was to place in the Top 10 so I was definitely pleasantly surprised,” he said.
Sweetland finished 12th in the senior men’s bowhunter open division and nabbed gold in the Expert B class with a 270 average, while Finlay placed ninth in senior men’s compound with a 278 average.
Sweetland got involved with archery two years ago because he was interested in hunting with a bow and arrow instead of a rifle. He killed his first moose with bow and arrow. He grew up hunting on the east coast with his dad and brother, but he was always the guy lugging the moose out of the woods not shooting it.
Hunting with a bow and arrow seemed like a better fit because he thought it would be more challenging.
He could only muster enough time to get six rounds sent in for his first mailmatch event, so he was quite surprised with how he ranked among the best in the country, especially since it had been the first time he took his bow out since the fall.
“If I was practising I would have done a lot better, but that’s that’s the way it goes — there’s only so much time,” Sweetland said.
