Sunday saw the inaugural York/Hereford Trophy Shoot. The round was a traditional one using five zone scoring (9/7/5/3/1) comprising of twelve dozen arrows shot in a 6/4/2 split at 100/80 and 60 yards for the Gents designated a York, and 80/60 and 50 yards for the Ladies designated a Hereford. The juniors shot an equivalent round termed a Bristol in accordance with their age and gender. There was also a separate round for the novice archers of a Short National which comprised of four dozen arrows at 50y and 2 dozen at 40y.
Unfortunately, the turn out was poor; overnight rain and poor weather conditions in other parts of the island seemed to discourage several archers in spite of a favourable field report from Greeba. While it was very soggy underfoot, temperatures were high and by 10:30 the archers who had shown up were basking in glorious sunshine that lasted most of the day. What the shoot lacked in quantity it made up for in quality with eight of the ten archers achieving personal best scores, six of which were New Club Records.
Rhys Moore was the sole representative in the Gents Compound division but he did not allow the lack of competition or fatigue from Stewarding duties at the Royal Manx Show distract him. After a slowish start Rhys gained momentum, dropping just two points at the final distance to set a new pb for the round and break his own Club Record by twelve points.
Rhys shared the boss with Danny Cowin who was the only competitor in the Gents Recurve division as Dave Berry was still recovering from knee replacement surgery. The usually quiet and retiring Mr Cowin kept up a barrage of abuse at the Records Officer whom he seemed to hold personally responsible for the fact that the men had shoot longer distances than the women. He even calculated the extra distances he had to both shoot and walk over the course of the day and the Records Officer’s Zen like calm was stretched to breaking point much to her fellow Club Members’ amusement.
The only direct competition came in the Ladies Recurve section with Jane Berry and Barbara Harris on the shooting line. Jane, who has made incredible progress over the course of her first Outdoor season, was shooting the round for the first time. Lack of practice and sleep deprivation did her no favours over the longer distance and Barbara managed to carve out a sizable lead. Jane bounced back to outshoot Harris over the shorter two distances and set an impressive pb but it wasn’t enough and Barbara lifted her second trophy of the season.
Tilly Ashton was the only junior who shoot a full day’s round and she battled past the heat, humidity and bloodsucking insects to break the Club Record she set at the Junior Nationals by 33 points to win the first ever Bristol Trophy.
Graham Makepeace-Warne made a welcome return to Greeba after an extensive break due to work and homelife commitments. He put his Longbow to good use in the Novice National to win his first Outdoor Trophy at the Club by setting a New Club Record. Peter Howland had a slow start in the Recurve division of the Novice National but began to show some real form over the last three dozen arrows. Both men were shooting the round for the first time.
In the afternoon Pete Mumford and juniors Toby Young and Jacob Brookes shot National rounds. Pete shot in his usual relaxed style dropping just 16 of the points available to break the Club Record for the Gents Compound previously held by Alan Munro. Toby Young broke his own u16 Gents Club Record by 30 points having maintained his concentration in spite of Pete Mumford’s sudden outbursts about the Geeba wildlife. Not to be outdone Jacob Brookes put in a cracking Short Junior National (30 & 20y) to add 28 points to the Club Record.
Results York/Hereford Trophy: Gents Compound – R.Moore 144/1234/113pb,NCR. Gents Recurve – D.Cowin 138/732/19. Ladies Recurve – 1.B.Harris 139/971/41, 2.J.Berry 140/896/41pb. Novice National Trophy: Gents Longbow – G.Makepeace-Warne 59/281/7pb,NCR. Gents Recurve – P.Howland 63/391/17pb. Short National: Gents Compound – P.Mumford 72/634/66pb,NCR. U16 Gents Recurve – T.Young 72/574/41pb,NCR. Short Junior National – J.Brookes 72/592/47pb,NCR.
Isle of Man Archery Club 