MOUNTAIN VIEW COUNTY— More than a 100 archers recently let loose at the Painted Warriors Ranch where the Elk Ridge Archery Club hosted a provincial tournament.
The Archery Shooters Association Classic Tournament was for the first time held Aug. 13-14 at the club, which is located largely to the south and a little to the east of Sundre.
The outdoor venue offered much to the delight of contenders – who competed not only by age categories but also the kind of bows they were shooting such as a traditional, long, or compound bow – a more immersive experience than a staged, indoor environment.
“I’ve been all over western Canada,” said Marcus “Muc” Simons, an archer whose been shooting recreationally for most of his life, the last eight or so years of which have been more competitive.
“I’m from Regina; it’s windy all the time there – so, any time you can shoot here and there’s not a breath of wind, it’s incredible,” Simons told the Albertan shortly after letting loose an arrow at a mock target of deer in a shady, well-treed portion of the venue that offered a welcome reprieve of shade to help keep the archers cool on an otherwise hot, sunny day.
“So far it’s beautiful,” Simons said. “Probably one of the nicest venues I’ve been to.”
Darrell Tucker, who lives south of Edmonton in Pigeon Lake, said “Elk Ridge puts on a really good shoot. Everybody’s very friendly, and you can’t find a better venue.”
Having drawn and released his first arrow as a child, Tucker has enjoyed the sport ever since.
“It’s just nice to see the arrow fly. I think that’s why we all started originally, we wanted to see the arrow fly. Now, you want to see it fly to the right spot,” he said with a chuckle, adding when asked how hitting the mark feels, “It’s the best.”
Tracey Klettl, an event organizer who runs the club alongside Tim Mearns, was grateful to have the chance to host the tournament and expressed appreciation for what she called overwhelming support from the community at large.
“We were super excited for this opportunity,” said Klettl. “We kind of are able to showcase what a beautiful area Mountain View County is.”
And Sundre also benefitted from the economic ripple effect of having more than 100 archers come to the area for the weekend, along the way patronizing local establishments, she said.
“It’s not just them coming, it’s their families as well,” she said, adding many of them were looking at booking accommodations either at hotels in town as well as campgrounds in the area.
There is even a possibility of bringing back the tournament to become an annual event, she said.
“It opens the door for more opportunities for this area,” she said about introducing to the region a new annual event that draws out plenty of people.
Klettl said she has enjoyed being able to coordinate with and work alongside the Town of Sundre on the path to building stronger partnerships not only with the municipality but also businesses in the area.
“To me, it’s an exciting opportunity in that respect,” she said.
The tournament came together as part of an Alberta Archery effort to promote the sport within the province and help clubs get re-established after getting hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, she said, adding a northern and southern tour were created.
The Elk Ridge Archery Club was chosen in large part because of it’s fairly central location, she said.
“And we have a nice space to host this kind of event,” she said. “All three courses that we have are all set outside.”
There were 27 categories in total, and Klettl congratulated all of the archers who competed and added she looks forward to hopefully providing opportunities for them to return in the future.
“We definitely would do it again next year,” she said, adding everything this time around seemed to have gone off without a hitch.
“Everything ran really smoothly,” she said. “The volunteers were so well prepared. We had a really good plan in place and everything ran on time and finished on time.”
Further motivating the organizers was “lots of great feedback from the archers,” she said, adding many expressed not only a keen interest on returning but also praise for the outdoor course.
“I think a lot of them felt like they were really well taken care of by the club,” she said. “I couldn't be happier.”
The last time a major archery tournament was held in the area was prior to the pandemic, when about 300 archers came to Sundre for the 2018 Canadian Indoor 3D Archery Championships, which were held indoors at the Sundre Arena.
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