Local archer looks to new base for shot at Olympics
BURTON archer Conor Hall is still hoping to make the Great Britain team for the Olympics in Paris this summer and hopes the opening of a bespoke new training centre at Lilleshall in Shropshire can help him achieve the goal.
Archery GB opened the new performance centre this week and it allowed indoor training in the sport, which is not usually possible.
After attending the opening of the centre, 28-year-old Hall said: “To have the new performance centre is incredible as it means we can now train in any weather – something which in the UK is especially relevant.
“Whenever it’s windy or really bad weather, we just head inside. I also really appreciate having the social and meeting spaces and feel they add a lot to the facility and make it what it is.
“It’s a real benefit having everything together in one place.
“I’m at Lilleshall nine-to-five most days and archery is a strenuous sport.
“I can shoot anywhere between 350-450 arrows a day, so being able to have space where we can relax and refuel in between sessions is really important.
“I also love that both the Olympic and Paralympic performance squads train alongside each other, something which we haven’t had before.”
Hall shoots with a recurve bow, the only type permitted in the Olympics, and is currently rated 208 in the world, although he has been as high as 84th.
“I was part of the men’s recurve team that won silver at the Spring Arrows competition in Turkey earlier this month, so that was a great start to the season,” he said.
“There are still spots for the Paris Games up for grabs and the upcoming European Championships in Essen, Germany, next month will give us an opportunity to try and do that.”
Archery GB has been based at Lilleshall for 20 years. Previously, Sport England funded the re-purposing of a sports hall and synthetic football surface as an archery facility but it had not proved possible to develop this further.
The new purpose-built facility will be used by Olympic and Paralympic archers as their daily elite training environment in the run up to Paris.
It features a 70m indoor and outdoor range for all-year-round shooting, changing rooms, coaching training support areas and toilets, all on the same level, as well as car and cycle parking.