Conditions were perfect on Sunday for the Junior Outdoor Championships at Greeba. There was a smaller turnout than last year, but the quality of the shooting was high, with two Club Records being broken. The competition was run on strict lines with timers and whistles to indicate starts and stops and each target had an adult to score and help with arrow pulling. The round of the day was a Short Metric divided by age group and gender.
The low numbers meant that there was only one age group that had any direct competition and that was the u16 boy’s category. Toby Young and James Hill faced off against each other in a Short Metric II (three dozen arrows at each of two distances 40 & 30m). James had shot well over the season but Toby, fresh from competing in the Junior National Outdoor Championships at Lilleshall, has been outstanding. Toby led from start to finish and was never under any pressure. A couple of misses did James no favours but he finished strongly. Nathan Kinrade was on his own in the u14 boys Short Metric III (30 & 20m). He put in a solid round but an uncharacteristic miss at the second distance prevented him breaking 500 point barrier.
Tilly Ashton shot up a storm in the u14 girl’s category to break her own Club Record for the Short Metric IV (20 & 10m) 10 points. The star of the day was 10 year old Lily Priestnal who managed to keep all but eight of her 72 arrows in the yellow scoring zone of the target in her assault on the Short Metric V (15 & 10m). A tremendous display of shooting, which included a perfect 60 score with her final six arrows, saw her smash the existing Club Record by a whopping 75 points.
The Club would like to thank Director of shooting Sarah Rigby for providing the whistles. Scorers David Moore, Joy Gough and Barbara and Charlotte Harris for providing the brains and the field party of Rhys Moore, Pete Mumford and Dave Berry for providing the muscle.
Whilst the afternoon was dedicated to the Junior Championships, the morning session was given over to WA 900 round for the adults to shoot. The WA 900 consists of 30 arrows at each of three distances – 60, 50 and 40m and only Pete Mumford in the Compound division had shot the round before, which meant that everyone else was guaranteed a pb. As it was Pete Mumford also shot a pb, adding 23 points to his previous best in his trademark relaxed style, but had to settle for fifth place. Colin Moore, who has only found time for handful of shoots this season, struggled with the unfamiliar 60m but recovered well at 50 and 40 to slot into sixth place. Simon Musgrove put in a very tidy score sheet to clinch fourth place. But the real fight for Compound glory was between Rhys Moore, Billy Lightfoot and Dave Moore.
There were never more than a few marks separating the three men, with Billy having the early advantage. Billy turned a 1 point lead over Dave at the end of the first distance into a 4 point lead by the end of the second, with Rhys a further 6 points behind. At 40m Billy could not get a sight picture and he hit too many nines to keep him in contention. Dave dropping only 7 points of the 300 available overhauled Billy to take the win and break the old Club Record by 32 points. Rhys, having finally loosened up his aching muscles, put in a final burst to draw level with Lightfoot’s score. On countback Billy found himself pushed down into third place by virtue of Rhys having shot one more X10. Joy Gough also struggled to get a sight picture at the short distances but nevertheless established a Club Record that might tempt Sarah Rigby out of retirement to break.
It was business as usual in the Recurve division with Danny Cowin outclassing his opponents to take the win. While Barbara Harris struggled to get her aging and decrepit body moving and Ralf Mitchell continued his ‘archery journey’, a few errant arrows saw Danny fall just 6 points short of the Gents Recurve Club Record. Harris did at least show a bit of form at the 40m to establish a Ladies Recurve Record.
Results:
Junior Outdoor Championships- U16 Boys- 1.T.Young 72/563/13/2, 2.J.Hill 70/488/8/4. U14 Boys- N.Kinrade 71/494/4/1. U14 Girls -T.Ashton 72/663/35/11pb NCR. U12 Girls- L.Priestnal 72/670/31/13pb,NCR.
WA 900: Compound- 1.D.Moore 90/858/57/20pb,NCR, 2.R.Moore 90/854/51/19pb, 3.B.Lightfoot 90/854/47/18pb, 4.S.Musgrove 90/844/41/11pb, 5.P.Mumford 90/841/44/17pb, 6.C.Moore 90/817/33/12pb, 7.J.Gough 90/810/31/10pbNCR. Recurve- 1.D.Cowin 90/749/22/7pb, 2.B.Harris 90/677/13/4pb,NCR, 3.R.Mitchell 83/494/3/1pb.
Isle of Man Archery Club 