Rob Cox, a previous national team member and compound para archer based out of Manitoba, has announced his retirement from international archery following a career with numerous international appearances and successes.
Reaching a world ranking of 24th in the compound men’s open division in 2023, he began the end of his career with a 4th place finish at the 2022 Pan and Parapan Am Championships, earning Canada a quota spot at the 2023 Parapan Am Games. At the 2023 Para-Archery European Cup, he finished 17th, bringing his international competition chapter to a close after nearly 20 years of events.
What led you to the decision to retire?
I’ve decided to retire from international competition due to ongoing medical problems. I had a passion and hope to return to the international stage, but with the ongoing medical problems, it was time to take a step back.
Will you still stay involved in archery at the national/local level? If so, how?
Yes, I plan to stay involved in Archery. I hope to get my strength back so that I can continue shooting at the indoor competitions. I will be starting physio at Heartland Archery starting one day a week for a few hours in the near future. My physiotherapist hopes that it will not be too long before I can come back. I also plan to go back as a Judge. I have done this before, there are other areas of the archery program if it is open to me, I may try.
What will you look back on with the most happiness/pride in your career?
There is a lot that I could look at with happiness and pride. I’ve been doing Archery for a very long time, starting back in October 2002. First for me is the day that I went to Heartland Archery and I got to meet Roger Garrod for the first time; he was watching me shoot and he said that with fine tuning, I could become a pretty good archer. I have 4 Canadian indoor records, three of them are individual records, and one of them is a team record.
Being able to go to Korea in the first summer I started shooting outdoors was crazy. Kevin Evans, Bob Hudson and myself were an excellent team that year – both of them took me under their wings and we were able to come back with a bronze medal in the team event. I was so honoured to be picked for that team, and I was so honoured to be shooting alongside two very good archers. This is where my international Archery career began.
It was an honour to be part of both the 2008 and 2012 Paralympic Program. I was the alternate for both of those years and for me, that was great for only shooting six years outdoors. In those six years, I also competed at three Para World Championships.
After being off for a number of years due to medical reasons, I was able to come back in 2019 and be able to shoot for Canada at the Indoor Championships of the Americas, where I was able to win a gold medal for Canada. On the road to the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, I was honoured to help Canada in the 1st stage in Santiago, not knowing at that time that it would be my last international event. We needed to be in the top seven of the individual event to move on to the 2nd stage of the road to the 2024 Paralympic Games – I was able to give Canada a 4th place finish.
What do you love most about archery?
For me, I think the thing I love most about Archery is getting to meet different people from all over the world. You have people that are at different levels of their Archery career helping each other. One thing that really speaks to me is when a younger archer shows you how to fletch your own arrows and you receive that information with open arms.
Any final words that you would like to contribute?
First thing I would say is make sure you’re having fun. If you get to a point in archery where you are not having fun anymore, I would recommend that you step back and look at yourself and see where that fun is when you started your archery endeavours. When you find that, continue. Please learn from each other. It does not matter if you’re young or old, you can learn from each other. Listen to your coaches, they know what you’re trying to achieve because they have already been there.
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS:
Paralympic Games (as alternate): 2008, 2012
World Archery Para Championships: 2007, 2009
Online Cup of the Americas: 2020 (GOLD)
Indoor Americas Championships: 2019
Pan and Parapan American Championships: 2022
Career Best: 643
Everyone in the high performance program wishes Rob well on his future endeavours and thanks him for his commitment during his time with the national team.
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For more information, please contact:
Kylah Cawley
High Performance Manager