Bathurst Archery Festival makes its return after three-year hiatus

Close to 60 archers made the trip to Bathurst from Sydney and Melbourne, with close to 10 local archers participating as well, with well over 100 people in attendance when considering families and friends that attended too.

There was also a come-and-try area set up for people interested in giving archery a go, with up to 10-12 archers on hand throughout most of the day trying out the sport.

Bathurst Archers president Steve Olive said he was pleased with the turnout across the weekend.

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"We had over 100 people at our range on the weekend, which is amazing for a little country club," he said.

"We had quite a few come and try on Saturday. We had about 10-12 at one time and that was pretty continuous throughout the day.

"We also had demonstrations of the English long bow and the English war bow, as well as demonstrations of the Asiatic (Turkish) style bows as well."

The club hosted the first Bathurst Archery Festival in 2019 but was ultimately unable to do so in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"We had the first Bathurst Archery Festival in 2019 but COVID struck," he said.

"It's been the first year we've been able to run it since and it's been really well supported by our archers.

"We also have a great relationship with the Maylaan club, who often come up from Sydney to Bathurst.

"They love coming up and travelling around. They really like being able to shoot in the bush."

Olive said archery is a great sport because of how inclusive it is.

"It brings so many people together, regardless of ages, religion and nationality," he said.

"We really focus on getting groups interactive and getting involved in the community.

"Archery is something you can do from a really young age. You can be really competitive and go to the Olympics and World Cup.

"There's a real social side, by interacting with others. They really want to help you.

"If you're doing something wrong in your technique, everyone is really supportive. Everyone wants everyone to get better."

The Bathurst Archers club currently has about 70 members, having seen a great revival in the past 12 months.

The club were down to about 40 members during the COVID-19, being unable to do much during the lockdowns.

The Bathurst archery range is named after Bathurst man Arthur Fisk, who competed in the Sydney 2000 Paralympics.

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