Construction crews are hard at work as they move towards the finishing touches of the new archery facility in Lac La Biche — the facility that will be the reception centre for hundreds of archers and coaches from around the world competing in the outdoor World 3D Archery Championships in September.
Members from the local archery club can't wait for the construction of the facility at the Lac La Biche Shooting Range to be fully completed — but that might not be until July, says Lakeland Archers Club President Rene Schaub.
"It's going good. We were trying to get done by the end of May ... it might be a little further — maybe into July — but we really need it for the end of August so, we're OK, we are going to make it happen," said Schaub during a visit of the site over the weekend.
According to Rene Schaub, construction workers will start working on the interior of the building — mainly drywall work — starting this week
The exterior of the building is mostly done now and there is still work that needs to be done inside the 20,000 sq.ft indoor facility. That means that workers can also start on doing some finishing work on the outside including landscaping, says Schaub.
"What's nice is that now that they are working inside and the outside of the building is done, we can concentrate on finishing the outside while they are doing the inside so, we will be all done at the same time... They are going to be working flat-out everyday," he said.
Support for the shoot
Schaub along with all the other members of the local archery club are grateful for the financial support they have received from Lac La Biche County as well as the volunteering support from the community. He also talked about a recent funding application that the club has submitted to the provincial government.
"This community is great... Lac La Biche County is paying for most of it, we applied for a grant through a cultural group from the provincial government, we were supposed to hear from them in the beginning of April, but because of the elections everything is kind of on hold... We are hoping to get almost half of it paid by the grant," Schaub said.
The Mission site will be used at the 3D Archery Championship finals where archers will shoot from the exact point where Rene Schaub stands
Building for all
Where the building is being built was originally a gravel pit. It was turned into a recreational quarter by the provincial government and now houses the area's gun range and the outdoor 3D target range for the Lakeland Archers. The facility being built will be used for the upcoming world championships but, it's use is not just limited to this year's competition. In fact, it will be in use for many years to come by not only Lakeland Archers but other organizations as well.
"Everyone that comes here and uses the rifle range will also be able to use this (indoor facility) so, the people who come here for training will be renting in here as well. The RCMP will do all of their recurrent training here, as well as the Fish, Wildlife and Parks as well. I have been approached by the Cadets to have their provincial jamboree here ...so this would be a great facility...We are going to use it for archery but anybody else that wants to use it is welcome to use it. The more people who use it, the better it will be for the community and our organization," Schaub said.
On a Mission
The Archery facility and range will host most of the games at the beginning of the World 3D Archery Championships but, the finals will be played out at the Lac La Biche Mission Site. The reason the Mission has been chosen to hold the finals is because it signifies history of not only Lac La Biche but, the province of Alberta as well.
"The Mission here in Lac La Biche was the first place where the commercial grain was grown for the first time in Alberta and it was also home to the very first flour mill in Alberta and first printing press. That along with the fact that this is the second oldest community in Alberta makes this site perfect to host the finals of the 3D Championships," said Schaub.
Structures within the historic site will be used to make the championships a truly challenging event, said Schaub, climbing the outer staircase at the 160-year old convent building to show one of the shooting perches.
"They'll shoot at the targets from up here," Schaub's voice echoed from 50 feet above the historic ground.
The local archery club has one of the biggest junior programs in the province. Once the facility is completely built and with the World Championships out of the way, club members have their eyes on pushing their junior program even more, so they can attract additional interest in the junior archery program and have even more new archers coming in.
"We are hoping we can do a lot more once we have a good facility," Schaub stated.
The World 3D archery are in Lac La Biche County from September 2-7. Lac La Biche is the smallest community ever selected to host a world 3D event.
The championships are held around the world every two years. The 2017 championships were held in Avignon, France, a city of 90,000 people. The 2015 event was held in Turni, Italy, a city with a population of 112,000.
