More than 50 aspiring archers of all ages took to the Dunedin Archery Club for its Have a Go Day yesterday.
Club treasurer Julie Butler said the day was a chance to try an activity that was on many people’s bucket lists after a surge in popularity.
"With all these movies we’ve had out — Lord of the Rings, The Hunger Games — there’s something sort of romantic or magical about archery.
"It’s something that everyone now knows about."
Mrs Butler said the Dunedin Archery Club was New Zealand’s first archery club, having celebrated its 85th anniversary last year.
Interest in the sport had really taken off in the past five to eight years, particularly after the Covid-19 pandemic.
The club had also improved its promotion of the sport online, with membership at present sitting at about 80 archers.
Mrs Butler said the increase in archery-related movies and books had helped the club move "out of the dark ages" in recent years.
Her own children had become invested in archery in part due to the Peter Jackson fantasy trilogy, she said.
She said archery was cross-generational, and did not require a high level of fitness.
The club’s oldest archer was 92 years old, and the Have a Go Day had attracted prospective archers as young as 6.
It even boasted membership from three generations of the same family.
Mrs Butler said she hoped the day had inspired some new archers to pick up the bow.
tim.scott@odt.co.nz , PIJF cadet reporter
