A BUXTON & Leek College sports student has brought home a bronze medal after representing Great Britain in the European Youth Archery competition this summer.
Seventeen-year-old Eva Henderson-Hirst, from Flagg, who is studying Outdoor Sports at the college’s Buxton Campus, flew out to the Romanian capital of Bucharest to take part in the contest and took the bronze for her efforts with team members Alyssia Tromans-Ansells and Eleanor Piper.
Eva first took up a bow and arrow at the tender age of 6 and the talented teenager trained hard to get herself selected for the national team. With both parents – dad Dean Hirst – a Level 1 coach and mum Jane Henderson-Hirst – working as a GB coach in the sport, she had plenty of support on hand.
A member of the Derwent Bowman, one of the biggest clubs in Derbyshire, she puts in hours of practice on her shooting. She was able to compete abroad thanks to sponsorship from the Derbyshire Institute of Sport and Matlock Lions.
Eva said: “I was selected for the GB Youth Team at the National Sports Centre in Telford and I’m thrilled with my bronze medal. I have met some great friends through archery and am looking forward to a career in sport to get me outdoors when I leave college.”
Eva’s tutor at Buxton & Leek College, Allan Shaw, said: “We are very proud of Eva and it’s really great to see her bring back a medal to Derbyshire.”
