Brock Paton, 70, the founder of the Osoyoos Traditional Archery School, is shown hamming it up with a fellow member of Team Canada at the recent 2015 World Traditional Archery Championships in Italy. Paton, a multiple provincial and national indoor and outdoor champion, headed to Italy believing this would be his last world championship event. However, he shot so well that he finished 15th overall and has changed his mind and will now train for two more years to prepare for the next world championships in France in 2017. (Photo supplied)
At the age of 70, Brock Paton was convinced he would be competing for the last time against the world’s best competitive traditional archers in Italy earlier this month.
This was Paton’s third trip to the World Traditional Archery Championships in the past five years – he also competed in Austria in 2011 and again in Italy in 2013 – and he travelled to Terine, Italy convinced this would be his last international tournament.
However, after his best-ever result on the world stage – a very impressive 15th – Paton has committed himself to at least two more years of top-level international competition and has set a goal to make the Top 10 at the next world championships in France in the fall of 2017.
“I had every intention of packing it in, but I’ve changed my mind,” said Paton, who founded the Osoyoos Traditional Archery School several years ago. “I reached my goal of making the top 16 this time around, but I was in sixth place for the longest time and fell all the way to 15th after missing one single target.
“This was, by far, the toughest course I’ve ever competed on and I was shooting honestly as well as I ever have and while I was pretty upset at missing that one target and dropping to 15, it made me realize I can compete with these guys.”
For those who may not know the sport, traditional archery features using wooden “longbows” instead of high-tech compound bows. And instead of shooting at circular targets, traditional competitors shoot at life-like animal targets, ranging in size from very large animals like bison, elk and deer to tiny targets like rabbits and rodents.
Paton has proven beyond any shadow of a doubt over the past seven years that he’s Canada’s finest traditional archer as he has been a member of Team Canada since 2009.
Since 2009, he has captured gold medals in every provincial and national indoor and outdoor championship with the exception of two occasions when he won silver at the national outdoor competition.
If it wasn’t for the one missed arrow, which was shot at a very small target at an extreme angle, Paton believes he could have finished in the top eight in the world.
“At this level of competition against the world’s best, you simply can’t miss a target like I did,” he said. “But up until that point, I had reached my goal of making the top 16 for the first time ever and I was shooting exceptionally well.
“I still believe I can compete at this level and after doing so well in Italy, I just can’t step down. Besides, the sport keeps me fit, it keeps my young and it obviously keeps me motivated.”
Paton was, by far, the oldest male competitor at this year’s world championships.
“The next oldest guy was 52 and the youngest was 22,” he said. “The average age was around 40, so I’m pretty proud to be able to still compete at this level against guys half my age and younger.”
Paton finished 36th in his first world championships in Austria and was 30th in 2013.
When you make the top 16 as he did this time around, all competitors “start from scratch” and their previous scores from the qualifying rounds are thrown out, he said.
The field is narrowed to the top eight under the same format.
“Every single one of the top four guys from the top eight never made the medals,” he said. “I was so close to making top eight and that meant I might have had a shot at a medal if it wasn’t for that one missed target.’
Paton didn’t begin his passion for archery until age 55 near the end of a 35-year career as a high school teacher, college culinary instructor and master chef.
A colleague at a high school where he worked on the Lower Mainland convinced him to join him for an archery class in New Westminister.
Almost every single person there shot compound bows and he tried it and enjoyed it. However, towards the end of that class, he met a gentleman shooting a wooden longbow and became fascinated.
“Unlike compound shooters who won’t let you anywhere near their fancy bows, this guy let me use his longbow without any questions asked,” he said. “I shot three bows near this line he had marked on a target wall and I hit the line all three times.
“I thought this was for me, I was hooked right away and have been ever since.”
He soon began practicing a lot and entering competitions.
Like in most sports, things didn’t go well for a long time.
“I can still remember my first shoot in Maple Ridge and after seven arrows, I had to go home because I broke all seven of them and thought this is going to be a very expensive sport,” he said.
A friend he had met through archery named Jimmy Ashcroft told him practice was the only way to improve and Paton committed to putting in the time necessary to get better.
“Jimmy was one of the best archers in B.C. for close to 25 years and I told him after that first shoot that I was going to beat him one day,” said Paton. “A year and a half later, I beat him and he couldn’t believe it because he had been one of the best in B.C. for 25 years.
“But he only practiced once a week after all those years and I was shooting every single day. I’ve been pretty dedicated to this sport ever since.”
Paton moved to Osoyoos back in 2004 in large part to address health issues relating to arthritis and his lungs.
At age 70, he says he’s never felt better.
“I can honestly say I’m in better shape and feel much better than when I was 45,” he said. “The dry weather here is just what I needed and participating in this sport has helped keep me stay young and fit.”
Canada isn’t a powerhouse on the international archery scene, but it is greatly improving, he said.
“We had 17 archers make the top 25 in Italy and we had seven in the top 16 in various divisions,” he said. “We have a very good team with a lot of outstanding shooters and I love being a part of it.”
Anyone interested in joining the Osoyoos Traditional Archery School can contact Paton at 250-485-7663 or visit the website at www.osoyoostraditionalarchery.com.
Club members shoot during the winter at the Air Cadets squadron hangar in Oliver, before returning to their home base on Strawberry Creek Road in Osoyoos in the early spring.
KEITH LACEY
Osoyoos Times
