Shoreham’s Olympic archer welcomes new GB performance centre

The facility, funded by Sport England with support from UK Sport, will be used by Olympic and Paralympic archers as their daily elite training environment in the run up to the Paris 2024 Games.

Lilleshall also serves as a base for Talent Pathway athletes aiming to get on to UK Sport’s World Class archery programme and the National Compound Squad.

Community activity including grassroots sport will take place at the centre as part of Sport England’s ‘Uniting the Movement’ strategy.

Representatives from the world of sport were invited along to the grand opening on Monday along with a local archery club who ran a taster session for schoolchildren to try archery and meet some of the athletes heading to Paris this year.

Shoreham star Pitman said: “I think this facility is absolutely incredible. I’m really happy we’ve finally got somewhere like this, both for the Olympic and Paralympic Squad, that means we can train together all of the time.

"To have the outdoor and indoor range – it’s exactly what we needed. I couldn’t have asked for anything better.

“I’ve been involved in the programme for 14 years now and while what we had before was okay, this just blows everything else out of the water.

"In the lead-up to Tokyo, we were shooting out of a marquee so I’m really excited to see what we can achieve now we have the Performance Centre.

“Our team selection ahead of Paris has now been completed and I had a great run in that which means I’ll be going to the European Championships in Germany next month.

"Then we have a couple of World Cups after that as well. We have one women’s individual spot already secured for the Games, but we really want to make that three so that we can send a team. The Europeans is a chance for us to try and make that a reality.”

Archery GB have been based at Lilleshall for over 20 years. Previously Sport England funded the re-purposing of a sports hall and synthetic football surface as an archery facility.

Over time the environment could not be further redeveloped to achieve the standards needed for a modern elite daily training environment.

Adding a dedicated archery facility to Lilleshall’s onsite auxiliary facilities (elite athlete support services, catering, accommodation, conferencing and offices) means Lilleshall now provides a turn-key solution for all archery activities.

The new facility features a 70m indoor and outdoor shooting range, enabling all-year-round shooting, changing rooms, coaching and training support areas, toilets as well as car and cycle parking.

Lisa Dodd-Mayne, Sport England Executive Director, said: “This centre will give elite archers the greatest opportunity to prepare and compete on the world stage.”