Rene Schaub, the president of Lac La Biche's Lakeland Archers, recently returned from the 2024 Canadian Outdoor Archery Championships that took place in Fredericton, New Brunswick from August 2-10. Schaub was at the national event as a judge.
A longtime competitor and coach who has been judging archery for more than 20 years, Schaub worked alongside a group of judges from across Canada for the national competition, which included 3D, field, and target shooting events. Schaub served as the head judge of the 3D competition and as a judge for the other events.
The national event drew 350 of Canada's best archery athletes.
“It was great… I really loved it,” Schau told Lakeland This Week.
The process of choosing the top winners for each event, Schaub said, involves archers going through qualifying rounds, to determine the top 10 scoring archers. Those top-scorers then go into another round of competition, narrowing the finalists down to five. Those archers are brought to the finals, where they shoot in front of a crowd to determine the gold, silver and bronze medalists.
“When we do the finals, we have the best of the best shooting against each other,” he said.
Worlds in 2024, Nationals in 2025
During the 3D archery ceremony, Schaub received a trophy, one that started in 1981 and is given to the province that will be hosting the nationals the following year. The Lakeland Archers, who will be hosting the 2024 World Field Archery Championships from Sept. 16-22 in Lac La Biche, will also be bringing the Canadian Outdoor Archery Championships to this part of the world from Aug. 1-10, 2025.
The trophy features a hammer, which Schaub says symbolizes all the work that goes into organizing the Canadian Outdoor Archery Championships.
Although no members of the Lakeland Archers participated, there were some from other parts of Alberta. The trophy also includes pins representing the provinces and communities across Canada where the event has taken place over the past four decades.
Schaub was also a recipient of the trophy in 2013.
“It felt great the first time, and felt even better the second time,” he said.
Having been an archery judge for over two decades, Schaub has judged every indoor and outdoor national competition held across Canada for the past 15 years except for the one that the local club hosted in Lac La Biche in 2014.
He has also been a judge at the Pan Am Games in Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, as well as Halifax, which he says was a great experience.
Judging at national archery events, Schaub said, enables him to meet and get to know people from all across Canada.
“It’s like a big archery family.”