that are three dimensional, not the flat
bulls-eye targets that they shoot at the
Olympics. On the 3-D animals there
are small outlines of targets. Hit the
smallest circle and get 11 points, next,
get 10 and so on. Miss the target and
hit the animal, you get five points. Miss
and you get zero. It’s pretty simple.”
It’s been pretty simple for Lavallee,
too. Proud of her Métis culture,
Christie participates in square
dancing, fiddling and jigging. In 2010,
she was recognized along with her
sisters, Chelsea and Channing, for
their incredible efforts to preserve
and promote the Métis culture in
Manitoba.
She is also senior counselor for the
Central Plains Cancer Care Services
“Kids Can Cope” program and has run
the Terry Fox Run to help others with
cancer. But as an athlete, especially
this year, she is also a role model for
the blind, for cancer survivors and for
young, aspiring female athletes.
“I am quite pleased with this year’s
performance,” she admitted. “My focus
was training toward the Gold Medal in
the Indoor and Outdoor Provincial and
National 3D Archery Championships
and I was able to come home with all
four of the Gold Medals from these
events. Getting the top female score at
the Reinhart R100 National Tour event
in the US at their South Dakota stop
was also nice to achieve.
“My skill and my results do get better
as I focus on my training. I have a new
bow that I am going to begin training
with and hope to use next year.”
It’s still amazing that Lavallee is as
successful as she is considering her
blindness was brought on as a result
of a childhood battle with cancer. Still,
she soldiers on, doing well in school
and winning national titles on the
archery range.
“My visual impairment remains the
same,” she said candidly. “I see my
Oncologist and Ophthalmologist yearly
and they use two different tests to
assess my brain tumour and remaining
vision. I am blind in my right eye and
have only 40 per cent of my sight
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