EVERY MONTH, YOUNG MARY PETERS TRUST ATHLETES SPELL OUT HOW THE CHARITY IS AIDING THE PURSUIT OF THEIR SPORTING DREAMS
Claudia Bloxham (Archery)
LISBURN girl and Hunterhouse College student Claudia Bloxham, only took up archery in 2022 when she was aged 10. This year (2026) Claudia was thrilled to become a Mary Peters Trust funded athlete, saying the Trust’s support has been vital in helping her travel to GB competitions and development sessions.
“We couldn’t have done all the travelling and attended events in England without help from the Mary Peters Trust. I consider it a great honour to be a Mary Peters Trust athlete as archery is not a big sport in Northern Ireland. I will always be grateful for the opportunity,” Claudia acknowledges.
Claudia has a true passion for her archery discipline, target archery using recurve bows, which is the category currently used at Olympic level.
“I’m also really looking forward to personally meeting Lady Mary – I’ve heard a lot from my friends as her primary school was lucky enough to receive a visit from Lady Mary. My dad tells me that he remembers Mary’s gym in Lisburn,” Claudia continues.
“To be successful you need to believe in yourself, work hard and never let anyone tell you it can’t be done. And that’s what Mary did in achieving her Olympic Gold medal.
“My dream is that one day I will represent Team GB&NI in an Olympics. That really drives me, trying to improve my form and technique and I hope that one day I can shoot alongside my archery hero Penny Healey, who competed in the 2024 Paris Olympics.”
Realistically for Claudia, Brisbane 2032 could be an Olympic goal and by then Claudia would be aged 20 – very young in sporting terms.
Claudia was first introduced to the sport during a Killowen Primary School P6 field trip to Lorne House, near Holywood, where archery was one of the ‘give it a try’ activities.
“When I first picked up a bow, I felt nervous yet excited and I really enjoyed the experience so when I got home, I told my parents all about it and couldn’t stop thinking about how much I’d loved it,” explains Claudia.
Fortuitously, a week later a flier dropped through her door from local archery club, Lisburn City, promoting a ‘Try Archery’ day to which Claudia and her dad Allen signed up for. That led to both completing a beginners archery course and four years later Claudia competes for Lisburn City Archery Club whilst dad Allen has taken up a role in judging.
The current focus, alongside schoolwork, for Claudia is to move onto the GB Conversion programme through GB Archery. Currently part of the governing body’s development programme, Claudia travels to Archery GB’s centre of excellence at Lilleshall for competitions and training over seven times a year.
Next on the horizon is the 2026 Youth Festival in August which will see over 170 young competitors (U12s to U21s) from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland taking part. It will be Claudia’s third Youth Festival and last year she secured a Team silver.
Due to her age, Claudia can only shoot from 40 metres, but after the Youth Festival coaches can move her on to 60 metre shoots enabling her to reach the scores criteria needed to join the GB Conversion squad. Both she and dad Allen reckon that goal is at least a year down the line.
“I’m hugely excited to shoot at 60 metres as I’m really keen to move on – I just can’t wait,” she says.
Outlining what she is most proud of to date. Claudia lists winning a silver medal in the Teams U15 event at the 2025 Youth festival, as well as a silver in the national indoors 2025 U15 championships and a bronze in the first leg of the Junior Archery series.
“My National Indoors Silver in 2025 was my first individual medal at National U15s level and it was a hard-fought contest,” she adds.
And if things don’t go to plan, Claudia has already learned to focus only on what she can control: “When something goes wrong, I’ve learned that it’s not always my fault and some things are out of my control. During last year’s Youth Festival Silver match, just as I had let my shot go, a gust of wind threw my arrow off course into the ‘5’ so I reset for my second arrow which went into the ‘10’ and this taught me concentrate on the controllables.”
The good news is, that for any young people wanting to follow in the footsteps of athletes like Claudia, archery locally is expanding and pushing forward. As Lisa Wheeler, NI Regional Development Officer for Archery GB explains: “Four years ago, there were 330 Archery GB members in Northern Ireland and now in 2026 there are 700. We’re delighted that 50% of our members are Under 21s and in that junior bracket there are actually more females than males.
“An Archery NI Schools Cup took place in March 2026, hosted by Bangor & District Archery Club and the club went on to be shortlisted in the 2026 Belfast Telegraph Sports Awards. Claudia was one of 109 archers from 40 schools throughout Northern Ireland taking part in the school tournament. It’s very promising for the future of the sport here.”
In Northern Ireland there are different pathways and options, and local athletes can also be part of Archery Ireland and indeed many are members of both it and Archery GB.
Playing at and competing for Lisburn City Archery Club, Claudia is also part of the Northern Ireland Performance Academy and is trained by NIPA coach Damien Lennon and Lisburn City coaches Jennifer McCormick and Hazel Campbell.
“My coaches are very supportive. Damien, Jennifer and Hazel take time to watch me and are not afraid to tell me key areas for improvement.
“I would so love to make my family and coaches proud by ultimately competing in a future Commonwealths and Olympic Games but for now I’m really enjoying the journey,” Claudia concludes.
Claudia in action
In competition
On the podium
