Top archer hoping for cost relief

Mandy McGregor hopes some of Archery New Zealand's funding from Sparc will filter through to the athletes.

"It's massive for us [the competitors]," New Plymouth's McGregor said yesterday in response to the news that Sparc had given Archery New Zealand $100,000 to help the men's and women's compound teams prepare for the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi in October next year.

"I don't know where Archery New Zealand will spend the money, but I'm guessing it will help the top four in both the men's and women's teams."

McGregor, who is ranked fourth in New Zealand (fellow New Plymouth archer Barbara Scott is ranked fifth), said she had personally spent more than $30,000 in the past year on travel and accommodation.

"The cost factor is huge. Just getting to tournaments costs a lot. I've been to Turkey and Shanghai for World Cup events, plus South Korea for the world championships. I've also been to Melbourne for the Australian Open at Labour Weekend. It all mounts up," she said.

"And then, just about every second weekend in between, there's tournaments around New Zealand."

And the costs for McGregor will keep on mounting next year.

The New Zealand championships are in Hamilton in January, with the first of the overseas trips being a test event in India in March.

"Then there's stage one of the World Cup in Croatia, followed by stage two in Turkey and possibly stage four in Shanghai. There's also the Oceania champs in New Guinea, with the Commonwealth Games in October."

Archery New Zealand was also delighted with the funding news, with president Colin Teasdale saying "the board will meet shortly to plan the best use of the funding to give those selected the best opportunity of winning medals in the individual and teams events in Delhi".

"The board of Archery New Zealand set high standards for those seeking nomination for the Commonwealth Games," he said.

"The archers have risen to the challenge, training long hours and raising funds to pay their own expenses in order to gain the experience necessary and they have achieved significant success along the way."

Teasdale said the rewards had been gold for the women, silver for the men and an individual bronze medal.

"The highlights of 2009 were the women's compound team winning gold at the third round of the World Cup in Antalya, Turkey; the men's compound team winning silver at the fourth round of the World Cup in Shanghai, China; and the outstanding achievement of Stephen Clifton winning the individual men's compound bronze medal at the world championships held in Ulsan, Korea," he said.

"Their hard work and successes have been recognised by Sparc."

- © Fairfax NZ News