21 April, 2017

The Archery at the World Masters Games 2017 is set to thrill as athletes start arriving in Auckland.

Practice sessions have been filling up and local legends have been rubbing shoulders with some of the world’s best. Olympians Robert Elder (Fiji), Ken Uprichard (New Zealand), Natalie Dielen (Switzerland) and Kateryna Palekha (Ukraine) are ready to bend their bows and let their arrows do the talking when the sessions start on Sunday. Robert Elder has three Olympics under his belt (Athens, London, Rio), and Ken Uprichard has two (Sydney and Athens). Natalie Dielen competed at London and Beijing, has represented her country at multiple world cup and world championship events, and currently holds the world record for Women’s Masters Recurve in the Indoor 25m event.

Kateryna Palekha is probably the most decorated athlete visiting us for the event, having been to the Athens and London Olympics, as well as winning a Gold medal at the World Cup in 2010, and has both bronze and silver medals from previous World Championships events. She’ll be one to watch in the Outdoor event at Cornwall Park, with skills that we predict will dominate the 70m 72-arrow round.

Not to be outdone by these lofty overseas performers, our own Barbara Scott from New Plymouth is a veteran of world cup and world championship events, as well as the current world record holder in the Masters Women’s Compound division in the Outdoor discipline, with a whopping 353 out of 360 points in the 40m distance.

Australian Dawn Nelson-Furnell is also a world record holder for the Master’s Recurve division, as well as being a seasoned representative at world cup events along with her teammate Sherry Gale. They’ll be hard to beat in all events: outdoor, indoor and both field events, but some of the United Kingdom’s best are coming to give them a run for their money. Lucy Holderness is a gold medallist at the outdoor world cup, and Michael Clarke represented Great Britain for the indoor world cup. Fighting for the indoor medals will be Clarke’s old nemesis, Evgenii Sergeev from Russia.

The competition is set to be tough, and we’re anxious to know if our local athletes can show off their skills against the best. Will world records be broken? We can’t wait to find out!