Louth Archery Club backs Army veteran's Invictus Games bid

Tom Folwell has joined Louth and District Archers as he looks to compete for Britain at the games, and made his competitive debut at the fifth Deer Park Para-Archery WA18 tournament.

The Army veteran, from Greetham, near Horncastle, who was invalided during recent conflicts, started the competition promisingly.

But equipment failure curtailed his scoring potential and put him out of contention for a podium place.

It did not dampen Tom’s resolve, however, and he used the event to seek advice and knowledge from other archers and wheelchair-bound archers.

The event was a World Archery and Archery GB record-status indoor 18m tournament, and was held in Cheltenham.

Archers shot 60 arrows at a 60cm target in 20 sets of three arrows.

Athletes competed in their respective classes; Vision Impaired (VI), V1 (completely blind), VI Open and W1 Class.

Also representing Louth was Stuart Rodgers, of Sutton–on–Sea, who secured his gold medal in as many years at the event.

Having won gold last year with a recurve bow, the blind archer this year took the title with a compound bow, with a much improved score of 228 out of 600.

It was a big step forward in his development as a national and international competitor.

And clubmate Peter Shaw, of North Cotes, competed in his first indoor competition for 25 years and his first-ever indoor event as a VI Open Class Archer.

The veteran archer claimed the gold medal with a score of 522 out of 600.

Louth And District Archery Club chairman and coach Rick Smith accompanied the trio to Gloucestershire, and believes the club is in rude health.

“They are inspirational and I’m sure they will get a well-deserved reception on their return to club sessions,” he said.

“I’m also looking forward to reporting on the progress of the club’s junior members as they are also showing great promise as they develop.”