A WOMAN given just six to eight months to live in June last year has taken the top spot in an archery competition in Durham.

Champion archer Allison Wright was diagnosed with mesothelioma – a rare type of cancer in her lung – which threatened her progress in the field. It came a quarter of a century after she beat breast cancer aged just 29.

But the Prudhoe woman has now earned the title of National Field Archery Society National Championships Ladies American Flatbow champion 2021(AFB) and scooped up the Wooden Arrow Mixed Team trophy (Butsfield Bowmen) with Colin Wareing, Peter Gradwell and Steve Mitchell. Darren Goat was reserve.

"Not sure I can really put into words how much it means to me to say those words - I feel like I've come full circle", she said.

"Having picked up the bow to shoot three months ago, it's been a rollercoaster journey. Learning to manage the fatigue to enable me to complete a shoot has felt very alien. I have persevered and been so determined to make it all work - it's given me something to focus on besides being terminally ill.

"It was a long 15 months where I thought I'd never shoot a bow again, but the love of archery lured me back. Being at one with the bow is like coming home - a comforting place that's filled with amazing memories. That place has just got bigger."

Allison's most recent success follows her win at an NFAS shoot in Kendal in August where she was ladies AFB.

She holds a number of county records, national titles and has represented Great Britain in the World Championships.

Allison, who is on a cancer trial for a pioneering drug, took up archery aged 50.