CANORA - Even though the skies were cloudy and there was a threat of rain, there was an excellent turnout as 160 registered archers participated in the 28th Assiniboine River Archery Club 3D Shoot on Aug. 12 – 13, according to Desiree Owchar, club president.
“We had 74 registered archers on Saturday and 86 on Sunday,” reported Owchar, “higher than the last two shoots in the last two years. People came from as far as Birtle, Man., and Kipling, Glenavon, Porcupine Plain, Kelvington, Kamsack, all over Saskatchewan.”
For the first time, this year’s shoot took place on the Doug and Debbie Lapitsky farm along the Whitesand River east of Canora.
“I had approached Doug about finding wildlife lands for the 3D shoot, and he said he would look into it,” said Owchar. “Debbie suggested, ‘How about our place by the Whitesand River?’ They let us use their farm, otherwise we probably wouldn’t have had a 3D shoot this year. Doug and Debbie were part of the original founders of our archery club. We are extremely grateful that they have given our club this opportunity.”
Owchar said there is a lot to like about the new location. The two trails are relatively short, each under 1.5 km.
“It’s close to Canora. It’s easier for walking, not as many hills, and doesn’t have the sand trails. People like this place. Each trail was different – one was heavily treed, one was more covered in grasses.”
The two-day archery competition was based on two shoots per day, for a total possible score of 800 points.
In the U10 Female class, the top three spots were swept by Canora archers. Olivia Owchar was the winner with 515 points, Lilly Frost was close behind in second at 484 points, and Courtney Pozniak had 211 points.
Rickey O’Soup of Norquay was the clear winner of the U10 Male category with 653 points. Connor Pozniak of Canora had 451 points and placed second, while Hudson Stabner of Yorkton earned third place with 289 points.
Presley Owchar of Canora finished first in the U13 Female class with 656 points, and Colby Fast, also of Canora, was the winner in U13 Male.
In U15 Female competition, Aubrie Monette of Canora accumulated 462 points and finished first. On the U15 Male side, Norquay archers claimed the top two spots. Dominick O’Soup was the winner with 711 points, and Dameon Lillebo was the runner up at 566 points. Lucas Thompson represented Canora and finished third with 533 points.
Cierra Bocking of Lintlaw claimed first in the U18 Female class by earning 516 points. On the U18 Male side, it was another all-Canora sweep. Andrew Owchar was the winner with 780 points, just ahead of his brother Michael at 742 points. Cooper Kraynick placed third with a two-day total of 488 points.
Emily Owchar of Canora was the U21 Female winner with a point total of 542. Two Canora archers engaged in a tight battle for U21 Male bragging rights. Cole Marcinkoski was the winner with 668 points, just edging out Dawson Zuravloff at 660 points.
In the Master 60 Male competition, Orest Belesky of Endeavour finished first with 701 points, followed by Terry Popowich of Yorkton in second with 351 points.
In the Traditional Male category, Vince Bailey of Canora was the winner with a total of 488 points over the two-day competition.
Lonny Gray of Raymore won the Compound Unlimited Male class with a near perfect score of 792 out of a possible 800 points. Damon Paley of Canora placed second with 596 points.
Dean Bocking of Lintlaw was the Hunter Male winner with 627 points.
In the Compound Unlimited Female category, Andrea Wiens of Raymore finished first with an impressive score of 786 points.
In the Hunter Female competition, Desiree Owchar of Canora was first with 703 points, while Belinda Bocking of Lintlaw scored 490 points and finished second.
Mike Owchar of Canora was the winner of the Compound Fixed Pin Male category with 692 points, and Scott Green of Kamsack placed second at 660 points.
Desiree Owchar said there was an excellent response from the community in support of this year’s 3D shoot, even if they were not involved in the archery competition.
“Some came to support the concessions and some just walked the trails.”
The archers had to deal with a significant shower on Sunday, which drove them off the trails in an effort to find temporary shelter. Owchar said she wasn’t at all surprised that, “people came off the course soaking wet, and then they still went back out later after the rain.”
Since this was the first 3D Shoot at the Lapitsky farm, a great deal of work by Owchar and the club members went into preparing the new site.
“It was just grass and trees when we started,” said Owchar. “There was lots of weed whacking, cutting grass, removing fallen trees, lots of cleanup, then maintenance and creating a vision of how the trails would look.”
Owchar is grateful that Doug and Debbie Lapitsky have made their farm available to the club for future 3D shoots for as long as is needed.
Future plans include adding a kitchen space and bringing in extra seating, as well as other new ideas which are still in the planning stage, according to Owchar.
Don't count on social media to deliver your local news to you. Keep your news a touch away by bookmarking Canora Courier's homepage at this link.
Here's why you should bookmark your favourites.
Bookmark SASKTODAY.ca, Saskatchewan's home page, at this link.
