Club Report 1st April

The sun was shining in Greeba as the Outdoor season got underway but the freezing east to west wind made the promised 6 degrees feel like a lot less.

Unusually the Outdoor season started on a Sunday which meant that newcomers and those with upgraded equipment did not have sight marks. To that end the morning was given over to practice, with those wishing to stay on shooting either a WA 720 round or a Short Metric in the afternoon.

It was nice to see Eric Lutes, Ralf Mitchell and James and Bethany Aldridge turn up for the sighters session but family commitments meant they could not stay for the shoot proper. Danny Cowin turned up to put the fool into April Fool’s day and he along with Dave and Jane Berry, Dave and Rhys Moore, Toby Young, Aalin George and Barbara Harris shot a 720 round. Peter Howland, Joy Gough, Pete Mumford, Tilly Ashton and Lily Priestnal shot a Short Metric.

The WA 720 round comprises 72 arrows all shot at a single distance – 70m for Recurve/50m for Compound. Toby Young was shooting the full adult distance for the first time (his U16 age group only requires him to shoot 60m) and he put in a decent round to finish third in the Gents Recurve. Dave Berry started well but struggled for consistency, a miss and a couple of ends of 29 effectively ended his challenge and he had to settle for second place. Danny Cowin, who was shooting with newly shortened arrows for the first time, couldn’t get his first six arrows to go anywhere other than the red zone on the target. His next six however, he sent into the centre and from there he never looked back. Danny effortlessly broke the 500 barrier and shot a score well above the average he set for the whole of the last Outdoor season, to take the win by a considerable margin.

In the Ladies Recurve Jane Berry was not only shooting outdoors for the first time but was attempting to hit the 70m mark having only shot indoors at a distance of 18m. The distance, the biting cold and the windy conditions all took their toll but she remained cheerful and finished the round to post her first score towards her outdoor handicap. Barbara Harris was a model of inconsistency, missing with one arrow and putting the next into the X (inner 10). Her final score was well below her best and she will need to do a lot better.

To everyone’s surprise Aalin George put in an appearance having last been to the field in early 2015. The conditions and the lack of practice obviously had an effect and Aalin found herself tiring badly towards the end of the shoot. This did not however prevent her from putting in a good benchmark score.

In the Gents Compound Rhys Moore also struggled to be consistent and his score was nowhere near what he is capable of but he still took the win ahead of his father David who struggled to find the centre of the target.

The Short Metric round which consists of 36 arrows at each of two distances – 50m and 30m. Pete Mumford put in solid score in the Gents Compound and Joy Gough felt she had made progress with the new set up on her bow in the Ladies Compound.

Peter Howland (Recurve), who was shooting outdoors for the first time, rather predictably struggled with the small target face at 50m but recovered quite well at 30m to post a decent debut score. Junior archer Tilly Ashton elected to shoot the Short Metric for the first time and put in a good score at the adult distance. Lily Priestnal was also shooting outdoors for the first time and she elected to shoot an age group up from hers and put in an astonishingly good score for the Short Metric IV (20&10m). Lily kept all of her arrows on target and was just 25 points short of the Club Record at her first attempt; good going given the conditions.

Results: WA 720 – Gents Recurve – 1. D.Cowin 72/538/3/1, 2. D.Berry 71/475/2/0, 3.T.Young 60/268/2/1pb. Ladies Recurve – 1. B.Harris 68/432/2/1, 2. J.Berry 28/122/0/0pb. Ladies Compound – A.George 72/633/28/11. Gents Compound – 1. R.Moore 72/649/22/14, 2. D.Moore 72/609/4. Short Metric – Gents Compound – P.Mumford 72/643/22/5. Ladies Compound – J.Gough 70/602/13/4. Gents Recurve – P.Howland 58/349/3/0pb. Junior Girls – T.Ashton 56/323/1/0pb. Short Metric IV – L.Priestnal 72/595/16/6pb.