CSgt Claire Walsh goes from grassroots to glory in under 6 months

CSgt Claire Walsh had an extremely successful 2023 outdoor archery season after picking up a bow for the first time in April.

Claire is a serving member of The Royal Marines Band. She was introduced to the sport of archery earlier this year, proceeding to medal at almost every competition since and even winning a few!

The Royal Marines Band Production Manager said, “Picking up a compound bow at Easter for the first time, I was not overly confident to enter any competitions for the season. However, with a lot of persuasion, I was convinced to enter a few to see how it would go, so I was playing catch up, especially with the ranking point competitions, as I did not start these until June.”

Some highlights of Claire’s first-ever outdoor season include claiming Inter-Services victory, 5 Archery GB Awards, the Red English Cross Archery England Award and achieving 37th place in the national rankings.

The last season competition for Claire was the Inter Counties, where she shot for the Hampshire B Team. However, CSgt Walsh commented, “As the RAF also had a team competing, I could wear my Royal Navy shirt and represent the force during the qualification rounds on both days. It was important to show a presence at a national level event.” 

The Inter Counties competition involved the top 3 archers from each country, with a significant amount of GB and highly skilled archers in attendance. 

Claire qualified in 6th place, beating 2 GB archers, and only placing behind GB and England archers. An incredible achievement made even more impressive by the short time Claire has been involved with the sport. 

Claire said, “I am thrilled with how the season has gone, and cannot promise that my progression will continue at such a pace as it has done so far. However, I have learnt a lot and now have plenty to practice during the indoor season.”

Next in the sights of this budding archer are the National Indoor Championships in December.