Staying at the top of your game in any sport is difficult but archer Dennis Carson has managed to keep his status near the top of the Australian rankings for more than 40 years.
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Not only has he maintained his status as one of the country’s best with the bow and arrow for that period of time, he has won medals on the world stage and coached others to international success.
Carson’s feats in the sport have not gone unnoticed with the current president of the Armidale Archers selected as one of the local representatives for the Queen’s Baton Relay when it comes through town early next month.
Carson said his daughter, Natalie Jordan, nominated him and it was “pretty exciting” to hear the news he was selected to take part in the prestigious event.
“I am very happy to do it. The proudest moment I suppose was I got a bronze medal at the World Championships in 2005 in Spain and also my longevity in the sport and the level I have been able to maintaint,” he said.
“I have been in the top five or 10 in the sport for nearly all of that time, not at the moment I wouldn't think but I don't shoot at the tournaments to stay there.”
“The ability has probably fallen off a bit but I don't attend the tournaments these days which you have to do to keep your ranking up.”
Carson now spends a lot of time mentoring up-and-comers in the sport and fellow members of the Armidale club experiencing huge success at state and national level in recent years.
In the past he coached elite-level archers but prefers to spend more time closer to home these days.
“I spend a lot of my time coaching locally but I don't do anything much outside of Armidale anymore,” he said.
“I was assistant Australian coach for a while leading up to the 2012 Olympics and I went to a couple of different World Championships in 2013 as compound coach – a style of bow – and for three or four years I was doing that sort of thing.”