Ian Hunter is a member of Lasswade Archery Club in Bonnyrigg, Midlothian. Lasswade has a very active group of older archers with almost 25% of its club members being over 65.
Born in January 1934, Ian is a sprightly 91 years old. When he worked, Ian began as a compositor and later worked as typesetter composing large medical books. He has always been interested in fitness, and as a younger man was a very keen hillwalker and golfer, believing that general fitness and staying active improves your quality of life.
As he got older, Ian began trying out other sports while keeping up his golf. Men’s fitness and circuit training became part of his daily routine and karate became one of his favourites, reaching black belt! Ian is also keen to highlight dog walking as another route to staying active.
Ian first became interested in archery as he saw club members arriving to shoot at the venue that held his men’s fitness group. Immediately, his interest was roused, and he was quick to find out more about the sport.
A sport for all generations
Archery appealed to Ian because it is a different type of exercise, it was indoors and something to do on the dark winter nights. As he readily admitted, at 75, being involved in sports like karate was a bit harsh on the body, and with a dodgy knee, he was looking for something a little more gentle on the body - that was sixteen years ago, and since then Ian now shoots two times, sometimes three times a week.
Ian said: “First of all it is excellent exercise, especially for the upper body, in drawing the bow and works your back and arm muscles".
He added: "There also is a fair amount of walking to collect your arrows after shooting each end, although people who can’t walk far shouldn’t be put off, as there are lots of willing volunteers who will collect your arrows as they collect their own arrows. It also has a lot of benefits to your overall health if you can stay active and involved”.
Ian initially started shooting sighted recurve and quickly became competitive. Unlike barebow archery, where archers rely on instinctive shooting or gap shooting techniques, sighted recurve archers use a precision sight to align their shot.
Advancing in competitive Archery
Ian considers that archery is an excellent sport for the older athlete and one of his earliest memories of the sport is from a club competition against the team from Heriot Watt University where he scored 522 out of 600, one of the top scores of the day.
There also is the element in archery where your real competition is against yourself. At 75 years old, Ian was very motivated by this as at the time he was the eldest archer at the club.
Ian now suffers in AMD (Age Related Macular Degeneration) and has lost some of the sight in his dominant eye, so he has switched to barebow, but he can still give many of the younger barebow archers in the club some strong competition. He has won many competitions being a very determined archer!
Ian began archery a short while after he lost his wife and for him, the friendship at the club is one of the main reasons he keeps coming back. The camaraderie shared between friends at the club help beat the social isolation of living alone and improves his emotional wellbeing.
Ian’s advice to those who may be thinking about taking up archery is… “don’t think too hard about it, just get involved. Never mind the youngsters, just get on with it!”
Club member Adelle Fleming added: “At Lasswade Archery Club, we believe that Ian may be the oldest active archer in Scotland!”
About Lasswade Archery Club
Lasswade Archery Club (LAC) was founded in 1979, making it one of the oldest in Scotland. The club currently has 82 members and offers four sessions a week, indoors at Lasswade High School Centre, and outdoors at Grove farm.
LAC has Archers in all disciplines and has representatives in the East of Scotland Archery Squad. Several members both past and present have shot for Scotland with one member having represented Scotland over 20 times.
The club hold active sessions with six coaches who can help members with their technique and personal development. They also run beginner courses twice a year in October and March.
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