Alison arrowing in on iconic venue

One of the most historic sites in Paris has become Alison Hagaman’s “office” for 10 days.

The Samford resident is at Les Invalides, the stunning 17^th century complex of museums and monuments to French military history.

As one of 14 international judges for the Paralympic archery competition, Mrs Hagaman’s duties started yesterday, 24 hours after she arrived in France.

First, there were equipment checks ahead of the Paralympic archery competition, being held by the River Seine from August 29-September 6.

“I’m really looking forward to it,” Mrs Hagaman said, “I watched the archery at the Olympics and thought that’s my office for 10 days!”

The treasurer and Club Coach of Samford Valley Target Archers (SVTA) is no stranger to this level of competition.

Having been an international judge since 2016, Mrs Hagaman has officiated at home and overseas.

She was eligible to judge the Paralympics archery in Tokyo but decided not to travel due to the delays and issues around COVID.

Since then, judging has become a greater focus than competing for Mrs Hagaman, who started at Grange Archery Club before joining SVTA.

“I’ve really not competed much since COVID,” she said, “judging has become a bigger interest over the years.

“I’ve been judging for 20 years and have done quite a lot of world level competitions.

“I’m a bit of a serial volunteer! I get satisfaction out of seeing events run properly.

“We’re actually trying to get more judges. Judging is something not everyone thinks about, but for high performance competition you need top level judges.”

Mrs Hagaman’s archery career began in 1998 when joining husband Brian – the current president of SVTA – in the sport.

She is also president of South Queensland Archery Society, which covers an area from Rockhampton to Grafton and the National Officials Co-ordinator Chair.