Above: Labertouche Primary School acting principal Jeff Bell has set his sights on helping the Australian field archery team down the unbeaten United States at next year’s world championships in Hervey Bay.By Brad Kingsbury
LABERTOUCHE Primary School acting principal Jeff Bell is a straight shooter literally.
Bell, a member of the Drouin field archery club, is among the best and most accurate exponents of his sport and recently travelled to New Zealand where he won the Pacific Field Archery championship at Whangarie.
The 46yearold sharpshooter, who grew up in Pakenham, reached the top in the increasingly popular sport when he won the 2000 world title, but still has plenty to achieve.
“I’m aiming for the world titles in Hervey Bay in June now,” he said.
“In the teams event the United States (of America) has never been beaten and it would be good to knock them off on our home soil.
“It’s the first time since 1991 that Australia has hosted the world championships and there wasn’t any teams event then.”
Bell said he expected competitors from at least 15 nations to attend the event with more than 500 individual archers.
While he has competed all over the world including places such as Scotland, South Africa and America, Bell rated the twoday Pacific championship event in New Zealand as the hardest he had undertaken.
“There were grades upwards and downwards of more than 35 degrees and that’s tough. You have four shots at each target and then move on,” he said.
“It’s the toughest course I’ve ever shot, but also very satisfying to win.”
From a possible 560 points available each day, Bell was 50 points ahead after day one and ended up breaking his opposition and winning easily by 160 points.
Field archery is a popular sport in the district and Drouin has several archers likely to compete in the world championships with the chance of being selected to make the national team.
“It’s a real family sport and that’s the way we promote it,” Bell said.
“There are cubs and junior grades, seniors for 17 to 55yearolds and veterans from 55 and over. Everyone can have a go and the atmosphere is all about fun.”
