SOCIAL MOVEMENT
Is it a bow? Is it a game? Yes, and run archery is targeting the mainstream
WE ALL LOVE RUNNING, but… it can get a little samey sometimes, can’t it? Here’s where run archery comes in. It’s inspired by biathlon, an Olympic sport that combines crosscountry skiing with rifle shooting, and has been growing in European countries such as France, Germany and the Netherlands since the 1990s.
The format is (thankfully!) designed to reduce any possible dangers from tired runners shooting arrows wildly. You run 400m, then take standing aim at four 16cm targets (about the size of a small frying pan) from 18m away. Miss a target and you run a 60m penalty lap. Then it’s off on another 400m followed by another round of shooting, this time with a little less stability because you’re on one knee. Get through that and you run a final 400m lap, with a 50m sprint to the finish.
Arran Coggan, director of participation at Archery GB, believes that the sport has real potential. ‘As a spectator sport, it’s quite thrilling: a competitor can be way out in front, but with penalty laps for missed shots, things can change very quickly,’ he says. ‘You have to really concentrate because you could lose that lead very quickly the moment you miss a target.’
Team GB Olympic archer – and keen runner – Tom Hall agrees. ‘I found myself getting to the range and walking maybe 10 steps to let my heart rate come down,’ he says. From a running perspective, it’s the opposite of what we’re used to. We see a finish line, we speed up – but in run archery, that will most likely result in missed shots and penalty laps.
Hall suggests running the 400m closer to your 5K pace to maximise your chances of hitting the targets. ‘If you take three or four seconds off your lap, you can shoot quicker and more accurately. That’s definitely worth it.’ Another bonus of this approach is that you reserve energy for the final lap. That’s when, as Hall says, ‘you’re free to open up and go for it’.
So does the format favour runners or archers? According t
