Queen Elizabeth II High School teacher Lesley Sleight competed for Great Britain at the World Archery 3D Championships in Robion, France.

Lesley finished in 17th place in the Ladies Instinctive Class just missing out on the elimination round by one place. 318 archers from 30 countries competed in the world event. Great Britain sent a team of 18 archers.

Lesley had a stressful start to the competition as the airline lost her luggage containing all her equipment. It eventually turned up just before the competition but having practiced with a borrowed bow and a mixture of arrows it was not an auspicious start. Troubles continued when Lesley’s glasses fell to pieces minutes before the competition started. Luckily her spare set of contact lenses and a marshal holding a makeup mirror saved the day. Lesley finished the first day of competition in a disappointing 19th place. Her second day performance was much improved finishing with the 11th highest score of the day.

The courses shot were reported to be amongst the hardest ever set at a World Archery Championship. The terrain was steep with targets placed in trees, in caves and on rock cliffs. On the last day the semi-finals and finals were shot in the Place de Palais a UNESCO World Heritage site in the medieval city of Avignon.