The European Youth Championships for Archery were held from the 15th to the 20thAugust 2022, at Lilleshall National Sports Centre.
Mr Christopher Brown and Mr Andrew McMillan as Trustees of the Fletchers Trust were invited as guests to present prizes on Friday 19th and Saturday 20th when the Team and Individual finals took place. Also in attendance were Mrs Hilda Gibson (Liveryman), in her capacity as a World Archery Europe Executive Board Member, and Mr Graham Potts (Freeman), who attended the entire event as a volunteer announcer and also as a guest in his role as President of The Royal Toxophilite Society and World Archery International Judge Committee member.
The event attracted 297 Athletes from 30 countries across Europe, including athletes from the Ukraine, who have been training in Germany.
The athletes competed in two age groups – Under 18 and Under 21, and in two Bow Categories – Recurve Bow and Compound Bow. Medals were available for Women and Men in Individual, Mixed Team (one man and one woman) and Teams for Men and Women (3 athletes in a team).
The standard of competition was very high, with 2 World Records and 7 European Records broken during the event.
The medal table was topped by Turkey with 14 medals, while Great Britain secured 4 gold medals, 2 silver medals and 1 bronze medal to finish second in the standings. Of particular note was the performance of Ukraine, who with 2 gold and 2 bronze medals took a very creditable 4th place.
Christopher Brown presented the medals for the Compound Under 21 Men individual category, and you can see Christopher in action in the video link Live: Compound finals | Lilleshall 2022 European Youth Championships - YouTube approximately 2 hours 31 minutes into the video. Hilda, Andrew and Graham also presented medals and prizes at various times.
The Championships were considered a great event with significant positive feedback to Archery GB and the organisers from those teams that were competing.
No event can run without the volunteers who put so much heart and soul into ensuring the athletes can compete at their best and they are to be applauded for their work during the week.
The opportunity to be at the championships was well received as a further strengthening of the ties between The Fletchers Trust and Archery GB.