How a local club is drawing hundreds of archers to Maple Ridge this weekend

Markus Zurberg never got into team sports when he was a kid. But he’s now about to welcome nearly 200 athletes to Maple Ridge. 

Growing up in Germany, Zurberg, now 53, enjoyed individual sports such as cycling and fencing, which primarily pitted you — and only you — against yourself or one other competitor. 

There are no teammates to rely on in individual sports, which is an aspect that has always excited Zurberg. Win or lose, the outcome is primarily dependent on your performance on the day.  

After moving to Canada in 2001, he settled in Maple Ridge. And seven years ago, he picked up archery, joining the Maple Ridge Archery Club. 

There was something relaxing — almost meditative — about locking in on a target and listening to his heart rate slow down that drew him into the sport. 

“It’s not overly physical, but more mental. It’s more of concentrating and focusing on your shot process,” said Zurberg, who has since risen to vice-president of the Maple Ridge Archery Club. 

But Zurberg is ready to become a lot more social this long weekend. 

His club is preparing to host the B.C. Indoor Target Archery Championships for the first time this weekend. The event is going to be held at the Maple Ridge Curling Centre, marking the first time the provincial tournament has been held in the Lower Mainland since 2009. 

“Right away, some people said if you [host indoor provincials] it’s going to be big,” said Zurberg, citing the event’s return to the Lower Mainland as a major explanation for the participation increase.

The last two provincial tournaments have been held in Quesnel, Zurberg said. The club successfully submitted a bid to host this year’s provincials with B.C. Archery, the provincial governing body of the sport, after hosting multiple junior provincial archery championships in recent years. 

About 180 archers from B.C. and the Yukon are scheduled to visit Maple Ridge over the Easter long weekend, smashing the previous all-time participation record of 147 from 2018. 

There will also be 10 members from the Maple Ridge Archery Club taking part in the competition. The participants will range from the age of nine to 78.

“There is going to be a huge turnout,” Zurberg predicted. 

The high turnout is also a reflection of the rising popularity of archery in Ridge Meadows, Zurberg said. 

Throughout the year, the club frequently holds “Try It Nights” at the Maple Ridge Leisure Centre, which typically sell out. 

All in all, Zurberg estimates, the introductory sessions expose 90 to 100 new people to archery every six months — 10 per cent of those people usually sign up for one more session or join the club. 

“We see a lot of interest in archery overall,” he said.

Zurberg added that movies like Brave, Robin Hood, and The Hunger Games have introduced more young people to the sport, especially archers under the age of 21, who are slated to make up nearly half of the number of people registered in the upcoming provincial tournament.

“Movies draw a big turnout, but you have to make sure you go, ‘Nooo, we’re only shooting one arrow at a time, you can’t put three arrows in the string, we’re not shooting an apple off of someone’s head,” he said. 

Almost half of the registrants are also women, Zurberg said, illustrating that the sport is slowly becoming less male-dominated. 

“Archery is really accessible,” he said. “You don’t have to be big and strong to pull the bow, there is something for everyone… We’re getting away from this culture of ‘archery is just for men.’ It’s a recreational sport.” 

Aside from hoping nobody loses a limb, Zurberg hopes the event goes smoothly and all participants have fun. 

The club’s current board is relatively young, he added, and this is the first time they have had to organize an event of this size. 

But they may look to host similar events in the future if archers from across B.C. and the Yukon enjoy their experience in Maple Ridge this weekend. 

“I hope that people will come back and say, ‘this was a really good event, we would love it if you hosted again,” Zurberg said. 

The tournament is scheduled to get underway Saturday.