The 2026 Lancaster Classic: From the Front Row

Transcript

The 2026 Lancaster Classic: From the Front Row

Manisha: Hello Archery Family! It's Manisha of the Archery Parent Podcast. This is a solo episode about the Lancaster Classic. For Reece and I, it was the ninth time that we have attended, and every year it gets better and better. I'm just going to take you through what it's all about and maybe why you want to consider this event for the future.

I know it might sound a little weird, but the Lancaster Classic, it's kind of magical. It is actually the very first tournament that Reece and I attended when he started. It was kind of one of those go-big-or-go-home kind of scenarios. It was shocking that we could attend a tournament like this and really see what is possible.

And over the years, even though we've been to so many tournaments, and now Reece is actually going global with his tournaments, the Lancaster Classic continues to be a favourite and it continues to be our time together because it's when we get a chance to reconnect, I hope that it can be special for you and your Archer as well.

So to start off, if you have not heard of this tournament before, the Lancaster Classic is the premier Archery tournament for indoors in North America. People continually come back to the Classic because of what it is and the community that is built and just being at the place where Lancaster Archery Supply is. So why wouldn't you want to be part of that?

This year, the Classic had 2,312 registrants and the Easton Youth & Collegiate Tournament had just over 500. Those numbers are a little bit down from last year, but that did not affect the electricity, the community, and the magic of being there. Those numbers equal to about 2,800 registrants.

Now, when I say “registrants", note that an Archer can actually register for both the regular Classic, and. The Youth tournament. And, of course there's always an international contingent. Those numbers are down from last year, but over 20 countries were represented at the Classic.

Now let's talk about what makes the Classic so special. There are some features that are exclusive to the event, that are not replicated anywhere else. And first off, we're going to talk about the 12 button. The 12 is only found in the Finals venue on exclusive target paper that is custom made for the Classic. It is a 1.5 centimeter white circle that is six o'clock to the gold rings, in between the seven and eight rings.

This is not something that you can just willy-nilly shoot at or arbitrarily have your arrow end up there. What is very, very unique is that you have to call the 12-spot during a finals match and. When I talk about the Finals, that is after all the qualifications are done, all the matches are complete. And, this is where the finalists of each of the 21* divisions or categories that the Classic offers end up.

(*CORRECTION:* The Women’s Bowhunter winner is crowned after the Qualification rounds are complete. This category does not move on to the Finals venue. This year, there were 38 registrants in the category with 36 Archers completing the Qualification. Division Classification: Women’s Bowhunter is grouped with Youth Bowhunter, Masters Olympic Recurve, and Women’s Masters Open. These are designated as "Medal-Only" divisions to accommodate the massive scale of the tournament while keeping the Sunday Finals broadcast to a manageable length. But don't let the “Medal-Only” label fool you: the stakes are still high. These archers are competing for a $1,275 total purse per division, including a $750 top prize, and they are still in the hunt for that life-changing $20,000 perfect score bonus.")

An Archer can only call the 12-spot and they must call it verbally and hit the 12-spot button on the stage beside each Archer. The 12-spot, it can only be called four times during their entire match.

So it's definitely a strategic thing while they're mathing everything out, while they're seeing their scores, how they go about dealing and using that 12-spot is really part of the magic that is so exciting for the Finals venue.

Another thing that makes the Lancaster Classic so special is that X equals 11. So on each target, in the centre there is an X and typically that counts for 10. However, at the Lancaster Classic, it actually counts for 11, making the overall score out of 660, not 600 like any other indoor event. There are 20 ends of three arrows each. This year there were five qualification rounds to make sure that they got everybody through and through to the matches* (see * above).

And I'm just going to go back to the 12-spot. A “12” actually lights up behind the Archer so that the cameras can see that. What happens in a quieted room that's dark, with the spotlight on the Archer who's shooting, when they hit the 12, the room loses their mind because the risk is so high. If you miss the 12, you actually either go into a seven-ring, or if you're lucky, the eight-ring.

Remember, we're talking about a 1.5 centimeter circle that is in a spot that typically an Archer is not aiming for. It makes it heart-stopping. It makes it heart-racing. It makes it so, so exciting.

Another key factor when it comes to matches at the Classic, the scoring is cumulative, which for Compound Archers, no big deal. Run of the mill. Every day. However, for Recurve Archers, where typically in matches, an Archer is used to tallying up the score of that particular end and then allocating one point for a tie, two points for winning that particular set, where it is different at the Classic, where you are continually adding up your score for a final score at the end to determine who wins rather than a point system.

If you're not aware, the Lancaster Classic is the place to be. If you are a Barebow Archer or a Longbow Archer, over the last six years, seven years, the category of Barebow and Longbow have grown exponentially. I actually had the chance to talk to three Barebow Archers. One of them is a Lancaster Champion. And the three of them confirmed with me that Lancaster has become the place to come if you want to test your skills among the best in the world. The community is so solid. They're so great, they're so supportive. They also shared that it is now slowly turning into a more competitive field. You've got the chance to be standing beside the best Barebow and Longbow Archers in the world.

They are saying there used to be another indoor tournament that used to be the premier event, but now it is the Lancaster Classic.

Something different for this year, for 2026, is the Classic added a Mixed Team event. And if you were wondering why it is because for the 2028 Olympics in LA, Compound has been added to the Archery program, but the only event Compound is eligible for is the Mixed Team. Adding it to the Classic has now exposed so many more Archers to this event that typically would've never had the chance to. The more and more that matches are conducted, especially the Mixed Team scenario, is exposed to younger Archers, this will just be part of their routine and part of their knowledge base. And, can put everybody further ahead.

Mixed Team was added to the Recurve component two Olympics ago, so now the overall Olympic medal count that is eligible is now six. So we've got five in the Recurve and now one in the Compound. And the focus has really been on Mixed Team because regular team has been around for so long. Start implementing matches, especially Mixed Team into your club, into your own local tournaments, and start getting the younger athletes, and even those that have been around for a little while, get them used to this style of shooting.

We have been going to the Classic since 2016, and the growth that has occurred since that time is so remarkable. It is such a privilege to have been able to see all of these changes. Actually, when it started, it was being held in the basement of the shop with fewer than 50 Archers. And by the time we got to it, it was being held in a small, local community centre, but it wasn't very long after that that they moved to Spooky Nook.

Spooky Nook is the size of 14 football fields, or 700,000 square feet of flex space that is considered one of the largest sports facilities in North America, and I have to say what the classic has done in the Finals venue is shocking. The way it has changed and evolved over the years, and even in Spooky Nook, it continues to change.

When you get a chance to see it before it gets darkened and used, it is, pardon the pun, night and day. It goes from a very lit place where they're setting up and they're testing things to turning all the lights down, spotlights, cameras, microphones, specially-constructed stages that are not quite a foot off the ground, but they've got these Archers raised up on podiums. They've got music blasting, they've got people cheering. Just make sure that if you are there, get a chance to sit inside the Finals venue to get that experience. It's goose bumpy. It's exciting. And if you're cheering on one of your favourite Archers. It's like nothing else.

Our story about the Finals venue was when the Classic first opened up their Youth category. Reece took part in that and ended up moving on to the Finals venue. It was not like it was now. They actually converted part of one of the competition halls and set up their venue there. And as a Mom whose Archer had not been in Archery for that long, who ends up getting to the Finals venue, I have to say, that was my first experience of actually feeling like my heart stopped, but somehow it was also beating at the fastest pace that you could possibly think.

It's dark. The glow of the lights focused on them. The audience was hushed. I don't know. I think maybe I stopped breathing. Maybe I lost consciousness for a little bit. Who knows? But the nervousness that I felt watching him: my stomach hurt, I was pacing. I think I was sweaty and I was cold at the same time. It was just something so unreal.

And the funny thing too, from Reece's perspective, so each Archer will walk in down this chute. So they come from their little practice range. The hallway is dark, the chute is dark, and they walk literally into the light of the stage. As Reece and his friend, who was going to be coaching him in the box, waited for his name to be called Reece, looked down at his Fitbit, and he could watch his heart rate rising and rising and rising.

As they called his name, Reece looked down again to see his heart rate and his Fitbit stopped. Maybe he was just sweating, I don't know. Maybe it just didn't register. The Fitbit stopped tracking his heart rate! Knowing that he's going through all of this, the stress, the excitement, the nervousness, when he got up on stage, he did not look like it was bothering him in the least. And that is something that I have noticed among a lot of Archers. They will tell you that they were completely freaking out, but on the exterior they were just chill. They were just dialling in.

But that really goes to show who Archers are and how they're made.

This is where things are going to get a little spicy. So one thing that really stood out for me, and I have noticed it before, but this year more people are commenting on it.

What I want to talk about is the mispronunciation of names that are being said on the Finals venue. For some Archers that can really sting. For someone who's on the live stream, their family and friends are watching, that can mean a lot when someone has taken just a second to figure out how to pronounce their name.

I have spoken to a number of World Archery commentators and announcers, both in venue and remote, and they say that the most important part of their job iss to pronounce the names correctly. One of the commentators, he will actually go up to everybody and on his own little private sheet of paper will phonetically write out the names.

It happens at lots of other events, even local events, so this is not just a knock to this tournament, but as a courtesy and as a sign of respect, it is just such a kind thing to go about and just ask how a name is pronounced, especially if you're going to be pronouncing it a lot.

I want to frame this as constructive because I love, love the Classic everything they do is exceptional. It is world-class and it is so pro except for this little thing that actually makes a huge impact.

A few ways that they can counter this, just ask everyone at the Athletes meeting who are going into the Finals how to pronounce your name. Another option if you want it to be a little more techie is have them each record it into an audio recording, so that everyone who is involved in the commentary can listen to it, or have someone actually put the spelling phonetically upon a screen or on a shared note so that everyone involved has it and has it accessible.

On the livestream, how cool would it be for someone to say: “We checked with everybody to make sure that we were pronouncing their names correctly”, or if someone realizes that they've been saying their name incorrectly, just own it, you know? It is such a humble thing to ask for help and to ask for where you've mistaken something.

You can say, “Oh, I apologize. I've been pronouncing it incorrectly this whole time, but this is the way it should be pronounced”. That is okay. There's nothing wrong with that. And if we normalize that for making corrections, for insisting on names being pronounced correctly, it is just going to make everything even better. And actually, it's a teaching moment for younger athletes as well.

The Classic is for everyone and Making the small, tiny tweak will just ensure and solidify that.

Like I said, this is for every single Archery tournament that has a microphone, that has a Finals, that has a podium. Just learn how to say people's names correctly.

Let's talk about the lore of the Classic. The Classic has been known for amazing things that have happened. For example, we were there the year that a Barebow Archer “Robin-hooded” his very own arrow. I remember hearing the crack and I thought, Oh, maybe someone dry-fired. Maybe someone's limb broke. Then all of a sudden there was a rustle in the crowd.

We're talking about hundreds of Archers that are on the line. It started filtering and reverberating that a Barebow Archer had had Robin-hooded his own arrow. And then, you started hearing clapping. You started hearing cheering. And all of a sudden, mid-end people are cheering for something way down the line that they couldn't even see. But the appreciation, it just made that experience so great.

And the thing that I want to share actually happened just this past weekend. Yes. It is a competitive event. Yes, everybody is there to have fun. Everybody is there to hopefully win some money or some prizes. Still at the core of it is support.

During the Olympic Recurve Finals, the very last few arrows to determine who the champion was, Brady Ellison and Nicholas D’Amour were shooting their arrows. Nick decided to hit the 12-button. He was doing it as a strategic move to tie his score with Brady's and force a one-arrow shoot-off.

So excitement builds. Everybody sees Nick hit the button, the 12-sign goes up, and the room hushes. It is so quiet, you can hear Nick pull back his string. You know that he's taking a moment to aim. He releases his string, releases the arrow, and it hits the 12. The room erupts. However the loudest cheer, and yes, probably because there were microphones, came from Brady Ellison himself.

It wasn't just a, Hey, Yeah! It was a full on, genuine cheering because he knows how tough it is. Again, it's a 1.5 centimeter circle in a spot that typically an Archer is not aiming for. I loved that Brady cheered so loudly and so genuinely for Nick. Nick ended up winning. He ended up beating Brady, and Brady knew that, but yet he still could congratulate Nick in such an exciting moment.

So many times I have seen competitors on the Final stages do a fist bump and cheer each other on. That is so much of what the Classic stands for.

We cannot go and do an episode about the Classic without talking about the team that puts it together. Over 200 people starting months and months in advance come together to work on the classic and the majority are LAS staff, but in addition to that, there are event-only participants who are helping put that four-day event together.

If there are issues in behind, I don't know if anybody sees it, because it is so seamless. They've been doing this for so long. They've been in Spooky Nook for so long that they are really able to keep it moving. And, it is just such a exemplary structure and framework to show what an Archery tournament can be.

In addition to all of those staff, you have to know that the LAS Express trailer is also inside Spooky Nook between the competition halls, and they are there the whole day, every day, not just selling out of the trailer itself, but They're helping people fix their bows. They're doing arrows. They are bringing in equipment so that people can pick up their equipment right from the trailer. And this is the exact same trailer that you will see at all, at all the USATs, all the major events. These are staff people that are driving this trailer all over the US. They're always super friendly on just a big, huge scale. Kudos to everybody who puts this together.

In and around Lancaster, there are hundreds of hotels and motels and short-term rental accommodations. You will definitely find a place. What you need to decide though, is what your budget is because there are rooms for every budget imaginable, and you have to decide how much space you need.

The next decision you have to make is how close do you want to be, A) to Spooky Nook, and B) to the shop. There are advantages to both. For us, we always choose to be about 10 to 15 minutes away from both. The time difference to travel from the shop to Spooky Nook, and the other way around, is approximately 20 minutes in either direction. Depending on the traffic, it can go up to about 30 minutes.

That's why we choose to stay in an area just outside of both, so that we have a back way that we don't necessarily have to jump on the highway. We can choose back ways to go to the Nook so that we are not late. That is my job: to get my Archer to the line in plenty of time.

You've got smaller areas around Manheim, where Spooky Nook is, and then you've got hundreds of options in and around Lancaster for accommodations. But, if you want to be on-site, there is even that option too. The Warehouse, which is on-site of Spooky Nook, is a 135-room hotel.

Know that that book's up very, very quickly. So if you have a chance and you really, really want to be on-site, make sure that you book the Warehouse right away. When I say on-site, I mean an Archer can actually roll out a bed, step onto a practice range, and never actually go outside. If that is what is important to you, make sure that you look into it. The blocks for the Warehouse open at very specific times, so make sure that you jump on that right away.

The accommodation blocks for 2027, which is being held January 21st to 24th, they're already open. More hotels are being added, I think weekly, so keep an eye on that. The link is on the Classic website under accommodations.

For non-Archery events, I don't know if you saw it, but Casey, she did a “Things to do” or “Places to Go” video. It's about 13 minutes long. It is jam-packed with information of what you can do in and around Lancaster. They actually pronounce it “Link-kister”. So if I say Lancaster, I mean “Link-kister”. The video goes and shows restaurants, places to see things to do, where to shop, and of course, ice cream, which is great.

I spoke with Rob Kaufhold during the event and he said that every place that they mentioned was just jam-packed. So if you are wanting to go to a place, make sure that you ask and find out if they need reservations because you don't want to miss out, or you also don't want to be waiting for hours for a table.

And I want to say that video is so well done. Casey was so great in it. If she was reading from a teleprompter. You definitely could not tell. The lighting was always great and the fact that they got to go to each one of these places when they were empty, amazing to the pre-production people.

I just got to say, getting back to Spooky Nook, there is also a Vendor area where a lot of the sponsors have set up booths.

Now you cannot buy from them, but what you can do is you can demo their equipment. You can test it out. You can talk directly to the reps. You can ask your questions. That is kind of a rare thing to be able to do, and you don't have to worry about feeling overwhelmed by all the selections. You can go from table to table, see what they have. A lot of them have the newest equipment and when you've decided you can just walk over to the trailer, order it, and they can either bring it in or you can wait.

Now let's talk money. There are over a $100,000 worth of prizes just to be won during each qualification round. There are draw prizes by the sponsors and they are given out in between each end.

These prizes are pretty fantastic. They range in value from say a few hundred dollars all the way up to a few thousand dollars. I know somebody, he won a bow press. How cool is that?

But the headliner is that anyone shooting a perfect score of 660, is eligible for a bonus, $20,000. This year, nobody won it.

There was an impromptu $1,000 being put up for grabs from Rob Kaufhold himself to the Barebow Archer who shot a 600.

So let's talk about the different payouts for the different categories. And you will notice that there is some discrepancy when it comes to amounts.

At the high end, the Open Pro winner will take home $20,000 and payouts are given out down to the 32nd spot. All of this information is on the Classic website in their rules, so you can check this out for yourself.

The middle ground, the Open, Barebow, and Olympic Recurve, the champions take away $8,000. Even though the categories are designated as Pro or Olympic, the Women's Pro and Women's Olympic Recurve, they top out at $4,000. For the Champions Youth and Longbow categories, the prizes range from $1000 to $1,500. The Women's Bowhunter category, the winner from qualification, gets $750.

If you are lucky enough to win some money, there is a threshold. Over that, you do have to submit certain paperwork before you see any of your payment. Lancaster will take care of all of that for you.

And like a lot of other competitions, contingencies are offered by manufacturers that can actually double or even triple the winnings that an Archer can walk away with.

This is another spicy moment that I want to bring up, and it is the lack of parity between the Men's categories and the Women's categories.

The Classic continues to be a premier event worldwide, really, yet the payout structures are showing discrepancies that are actually really shocking. For example, like I mentioned, in the Olympic Recurve, the male champion will walk away with $8,000 while the female champion only walks away with $4,000.

For an Archer who is consistently in the top five of the World Archery world ranking, Archers doing the same thing under the same pressure and getting paid half, uh, I've got some thoughts on that.

In the Barebow division, again, the male Barebow champion will win $ while the women's will Only take home half at $4,000.

In the Open categories, there is a $5,000 deficit, where the male champion will walk away with $8,000. The female champion only $3000. But, the most staggering and shocking lack of parity comes in the Pro division. The Open Pro winner will walk away with $20,000 while the female counterpart walks away with $4,000.

That is a $16,000 difference!

And this is not only the Classic. I am seeing this in so many competitions. This goes out to everybody: Why is there no parity?

I know the common arguments. I know all of that. And, I know what so many people are going to say. However, things are changing in sports around the world, in leagues around the world. What is the argument now?

As a side note, if you start promoting parity in the prize winnings, you're actually going to get more women in attendance. You can actually use that as a marketing tool. Female Archers don't need to be just happy to take part. I'm going back to the same effort, the same distance, the same pressure for only a portion. I don't get it.

There's also a difference in depth of payout. Quite often in the Men's and Open categories, there is a deeper payout structure than the female counterpart. And that would be another thing that you could also promote and use to your advantage in marketing; that you could say “same depth of payout structure” or “parity with winnings”. That would only elevate the event even further and give a bigger boost in attendance.

All I have to say from here is, imagine if it was flipped: where a female Archer is holding a $20,000 cheque while their counterpart is only $4,000. I'm sure there would be words…and justifiably. Yet we are asking female Archers to do the same thing and no one is saying anything.

My final note on the matter: is if you're asking who's going to change it, the loudest and most powerful voices in the room are going to be the ones holding the $20,000 cheques and the $8,000 cheques.

Did you know that there is drug testing at at the Classic? You may be shocked to actually learn that there is doping control in the sport of Archery. That is a definitive yes. Even at a tournament that is considered independent. The Classic follows the World Anti Doping code. All Open Pro and Women's Open Pro Archers have to agree to possible drug testing when they register, but anyone who actually wins the categories of a Pro division, such as Open Pro Women's, Open Pro or Masters Open Pro will be tested in part of the process.

Other athletes can be tested randomly, but it is going to be super rare. There are some categories that are exempt. Masters, Senior Youth and Barebow divisions according to the rules, will not be pulled for doping control. For parents, though, you don't have to worry about your Archer being hauled off to doping control. It's not going to happen. But do acknowledge that the event is under an anti-doping framework.

In closing, I just want to reiterate that the feeling of community, the exceptional organization and the shared passion while being at the Classic is really hard to replicate.

We’ve been in Archery for 11 years. I have never experienced anything like the Classic, and that's why we keep going back every opportunity that we have. It is a tournament that plants seeds and actually helps Archers grow. It is a testing ground for different skill levels. It is a place to meet up with friends. It's a place to catch up. It's a place to see what's coming onto the market. And, it's a place to figure out what it's like to be at a big tournament, so that when you go to something smaller, your Archer is actually so much further ahead because they've had this experience.

And, it's a great place to start your year off on a positive note.

I would love to hear your stories about the Classic. How many times you've been and if it's on your Bucket List, I want to hear that, too.

Thanks so much for listening. I'm Manisha of the Archery Parent Podcast. What you need to know to best support your Archer.

Make sure that you share this with one other Archery parent. I will see you again soon.

We're doing this one arrow at a time.