22 Mar 2023
Ashton to host two international archery events│Mount Barker Courier
By Louis Mayfield
Ashton will host the best archers in the country next month as they clash with international rivals during two Archery SA competitions.
Archers will compete in the 2023 Trans-Tasman Youth Teams Challenge and the World Archery Oceania (WAO) Championships 2023 at the Ashton Oval in April.
The Trans-Tasman challenge involves the best young archers from Australia and NZ facing off, while the WAO Championships will involve Australia competing against oceanic nations such as Fiji, Tonga and the Solomon Islands.
The Trans-Tasman Australian team will comprise of 33 archers, including eight from SA, of which a number are from the Hills.
Greenhill archer Nicky Fairweather will be joining the national team competing in the WAO tournament, shooting a special category of bow
known as a barebow, which has no sights or stabilisers.
Last week SA Senator Andrew McLachlan and Heysen MP Josh Teague presented Archery SA president John Vine Hall with an Australian flag and a First Nations flag which will be flown during the events.
Mr Vine Hall said hosting the events in the Hills would help put Ashton on the map when it came to the international archery scene.
“The fact that we’re putting (the tournaments) on here is a strong endorsement of our capabilities in the State,” he said.
The WAO Championships will include four divisions – Under 16, Under 18, Under 21 and Open – while young Australian and NZ archers will compete in individual, team and mixed team match play during the Trans-Tasman event.
It’s the first time either competition has been held in SA and the first major archery events in the State for many years.
Mr Vine Hall said the Australian team was well placed to achieve strong results in both competitions, as they were a “dominant force” in archery.
“We have a very dominant position, but it’s also quite a supportive position, we put a lot of support into archery in the region,” he said. Mr McLachlan said archery was a “fantastic” sport that anyone could participate in.
“It’s also exciting to watch … (the competitions) will be great community gatherings,” he said.
Mr Teague said it was “tremendous” to have high level archery events in the Hills, especially due to the tourism they would generate.
“Anything we can do to support it, including by provision of flags, is great,” he said.
“We want to shine a light on these events.”
The 2023 Trans-Trasman Youth Teams Challenge will be held from April 8–11 while the WAO Championships will begin on April 13 and conclude on April 16.