The 2012 Canadian Archery Championships at Juan de Fuca will be a real learning experience for Victoria's Diana Kaun.
She only started the sport in 2011 and this weekend she will rub shoulders with some of the best, including 2012 London Olympian Marie-Pier Beaudet from Quebec City and 2011 world men's compound champion Chris Perkins of Athens, Ont.
"This is my first major competition and I just want to take it all in and have fun,'' said the 47-year-old Kaun. "I hope to learn as much as I can.
"Archery was something that I always wanted to do. I took my first lesson in May [2011] with my husband Brian and really liked it. We then joined the Victoria Bowmen Club.''
Kaun has started to make some noise on the sa国际传媒 scene, winning the sa国际传媒 Indoor title for senior women's recurve (a type of bow) in Cranbrook. "I was pretty nervous at Cranbrook and nobody was more surprised than I was.''
She followed that up with a silver medal at the sa国际传媒 Cup in Burnaby.
"To be successful at archery, your entire body has to be working together,'' said Kaun. "When you make a good shot, you want to reproduce it over and over, just like a golfer.''
The three-day target portion of the championship starts today at 10 a.m. There are 200-plus shooters, ranging in age from under 12 to over 50, including 16 members from the United States Junior Development Team. The divisions are Pre-Cub, Cub, Cadet, Junior, Senior and Masters.
Kaun will shoot a total of 144 arrows today, from 70, 60, 50 and 30 metres. On Saturday, she will fire another 144 from 70 metres. The results from those two rounds will set up the seedings for Sunday's elimination round. During the knockout competition, each archer shoots three arrows and the winner is awarded two points. The first person to six points advances to the next round. [email protected]
