Medals delight for four at Euro indoors
Club coach Phil leads the way
West Lothian Archers are celebrating a tremendous quadruple success at the IFAA European Indoor Archery Championship.
That’s after club members returned from Budapest with a haul of three gold medals and a silver.
Club coach Phil Sutherland made it five European Indoor titles for his storied career as he fired his way to success in the Adult Male Freestle Compound class.
Fo u r t e e n - y e a r- o l d s James Tocher and Mirran Yule grabbed top spot in the Junior Male Freestyle Compound and Junior Female Bowhunter Recurve categories respectively.
James’s mum Lisa put in a terrific display to grab silver in the Adult Female Bowhunter Unlimited.
Far from resting on their laurels, though, the club members are already targeting success at the World Indoor Championships in Wellington, New Zealand next April.
Mir ran, a student at Inveralmond High School, admitted she was stunned to win the gold medal in her first major competition – barely a year after taking up the sport.
She said: “I didn’t really know what to expect or how I would get on, I just wanted to go there and enjoy the whole experience and do my best.
“To get a gold medal was beyond anything I’d imagined.
“On the first day I performed pretty well but I did even better the next day and got a new personal best. I was delighted to just go there and give it my best effort but I was totally shocked that I won the gold.
“It was my first big international event but it certainly won’t be my last because I loved the whole experience and it was good to know that I can compete and perform well at this level.”
For fellow Inveralmond High School pupil James, it was a second European Indoor success at junior level and he set two new IFAA records on his way to the gold medal.
While pleased with his individual success, he admitted team glory made the trip to Hungary all the more special, saying: “I broke the record on the first and second days so I was really pleased with my performance and I felt I did really well.
“It was brilliant to see everyone else get medals, too, because they are all really good archers.”
Proud mum Lisa said: “It’s great to be part of such an incredible club.
“I was delighted I won a silver medal and really pleased with that but to be honest the best part of the week was seeing all the other guys win their medals because they were incredible.
“The talent level is amazing and as much as you enjoy your own competitions and events, just watching them is a brilliant experience.”
Phil’s victory was the most dramatic in the Championships, coming down to the last arrow.
He said: “It was a great competition and I’m obviously delighted that I got the win against some brilliant archers.
“As coach it was pleasing to see the others perform as well as they did. That was really the most important thing because they’re the ones who will be following in my footsteps.
“They all have tremendous ability. It was a great few days for the club.”