Congratulations to Rachael Vallis who recently won three county archery competitions, after only taking up the sport a year ago!

Originally a birthday present for Rachael’s younger sister, the whole family decided to take part in an archery beginners course and all became hooked on the sport. They joined their local club Wearmouth Archers in Sunderland and it became a regular weekly family activity, participating in a number of shoots. Rachael has progressed incredibly well over the last year.

She first entered the beginners county championship in March and won in her category, the Under 18 Lady Barebow. The week after she competed in the county championships, which she also won. Rachael now additionally holds the title of the County Champion for Junior Lady Barebow. Then the top three teams of the different shooting style categories were submitted as one team, and Rachael’s team won the overall Barebow competition as well.

“Archery is a great sport for all ages all year round, as you shoot indoors in the winter and outdoors in the summer. It has been great fun to do with my family and to win the competitions recently was a real bonus” Rachael commented. 

Upcoming competitions which Rachael also hopes to compete in will be held locally in Durham and then in York in the summer. Beyond that she really hopes to progress to the junior and senior county teams then hopefully in the future to compete for Archery GB.

After completing her GCSE studies at Durham High School for Girls, Rachael chose Durham Sixth Form Centre to study A-levels History, Chemistry and Geography. Rachael has high aspirations to apply and study at a top Russell Group University, Cambridge or Durham, to study Archeology. She also hopes to join a university archery club and to continue to enjoy the sport with her family during holidays.

We wish her all the very best in her studies and her future archery competitions.