IoM archers were in action at home and away at the weekend, with David, Ethan and Rhys Moore making a trip to Chippenham to take part in a two-day event. The Double WA 1440 shoot was blessed with decent weather being largely sunny with a few showers over both days. A back injury had meant that Ethan had only been able to shoot once in the previous three months, so his score of 1238 wasn’t too bad considering. Day two saw Ethan plagued by a host of equipment problems which resulted in another low score. Dave, still recovering from a nasty chest infection, managed 1271 in Saturday’s muggy conditions but was forced to pull out of the second day of competition due to the reoccurrence of an old hand injury. Rhys had the best showing over the weekend, a pb at 70m on day one and at 90m on day two saw him record back to back Master Bowman scores of 1327 and 1330 respectively. An excellent result for him so early in the season.
The archery competition at Greeba was once again at the mercy of the weather. The forecast was for scattered showers throughout the morning so only a handful of archers turned up for the first session; the others sensibly waiting for the fine weather of the afternoon to shoot. Sunday’s competition was shot as part of the Club’s Handicap League so that whoever shot, whatever round, with whichever bow type, irrespective of age group or gender, would be shooting against each other. If an archer shoots exactly to their handicap, the tables will adjust their score to 1440. A score above or below this gives an indication of the archer’s current form.
Billy Lightfoot put in a guest appearance to say that he was not going to stay to shoot because of the drizzle and that the weather was appalling in Port St Mary. The Friendly Neighbourhood Records Officer informed him that the weather was always appalling in Port St Mary and he could return there as quickly as he liked. Mr Lightfoot ignored this, stayed to help set up the field and by the time that was done the rain had stopped and he had run out of excuses. The rain did not return, and conditions became unexpectedly pleasant, with sunny spells instead of scattered showers.
In the Ladies Recurve Jane Berry got off to a slow start after putting her sight bar in the wrong position but finished strongly to add 21 points to her pb for WA 70m round and take second place overall. Barbara Harris got off to an excellent start before throwing it all away with a string of misses that put her in dead last after the handicap was applied.
Billy Lightfoot, for reasons best known to himself, decided to switch from the back tension release aid he had used for the ‘sighters’ (practice arrows) to a trigger type for the actual shoot. He missed with his first arrow and by the time he had re-adjusted any thoughts of a pb had gone out of the window. Billy ended up in seventh place.
In the Gents Recurve Dave Berry had a difficult morning and, an unbelievably dishevelled, Danny Cowin had little trouble in taking the scratch honours. Both men ended up towards the bottom of the leader board after handicapping.
Shooting in the afternoon session, Tilly Ashton shot exactly to her handicap to finish in fifth place, whilst Toby Young took fourth. James Hill added a tremendous 88 points to his pb for the Short Metric II to break 500 for the first time and secure third place overall. Peter Howland added 8 points to his pb for the Short Metric round, which after the handicap was applied gave him the overall win by quite a large margin.
Ralf Mitchell and Outdoor debutante Gareth Leather were also in action working towards gaining a handicap. Gareth finished in third place behind Danny Cowin and Dave Berry who stayed on to shoot in the afternoon session. Danny added 21 points to his pb for the Short Metric to break the 600 barrier for the first time. Barbara Harris recorded her best Short Metric round for two years and Jane Berry shot the round for the first time.
Results: Metric Handicap – 1.P.Howland 1533 (54/357/2)pb, 2.J.Berry 1490 (58/281/1/1)pb, 3.J.Hill 1467 (72/502/4/1), 4.T.Young 1443 (72/555/4/3), 5.T.Ashton 1440 (72/641/28/8), 6.D.Cowin 1434 (71/535/6/2), 7.B.Lightfoot 1424 (71/629/24/5), 8.D.Berry 1417 (69/466/4/2), 9.B.Harris 1379 (67/461/8/4).
Short Metric: Gents Recurve- 1.D. Cowin 72/603/14/5pb, 2.D.Berry 72/501/6, 3.G.Leather 68/402/3)pb, 4.R.Mitchell 60/336/3/1. Ladies Recurve- 1.B.Harris 71/569/8/2, 2.J.Berry 69/418/0pb.
Isle of Man Archery Club 