AN ARCHER from Glan Conwy picked up her bow again to represent Wales at the recent UK Team Championships.
Rhona Halliday-Noden, a vocational essential skills coordinator at Coleg Llandrillo’s Rhyl campus, was part of the Wales team which claimed overall second place at the Commonwealth Archery Championship Europe - formally known as Euronations - in Kilmarnock, Scotland.
After totting up the scores across the men’s and women’s categories, Wales – which was represented by its largest team ever - was awarded the silver medal.
Categories included Barebow, Compound Men, Compound Women, Recurve and Recurve Women.
The bi-annual tournament tests the skills of the best male and female archers from across Wales, England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Rhona said she was ‘delighted’ to represent Wales again, saying: “Weather conditions were perfect for shooting, with no wind nor sunshine.
“I was selected for this prestigious tournament after submitting the three top scores from 2022, qualifying in top spot.”
Born in Scotland, Rhona relocated to North Wales 14 years ago, and soon qualified as a ‘bowman’ – the first ever woman from her club to achieve this status.
Rhona was 16 when she started archery. She soon became proficient and was chosen to play for her county, but she gave it all up at the age of 20. She returned to archery more than four years ago.
Talking about her return to the bow, she said: “My son passed his driving test. I didn’t have to chauffeur him around anymore, so I had the time to return to my first love.”
A matter of months after her return to the sport, the Welsh Archery Association announced that Rhona had been selected for the senior team to represent Wales at the Senior Euronations competition in Nottinghamshire.
During that year she achieved eight North Wales Archery Society records and ten Welsh Archery Society records, as well as a bronze medal at the Welsh National Championships.
In 2020, Rhona was crowned the ‘Welsh National Senior’ (Compound) champion at the Welsh National Senior Indoor Championships at the Sport for Wales Centre, Sophia Gardens in Cardiff.
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