Fifteen archers turned up at Onchan on Sunday, thirteen of whom took part in a Portsmouth shot as part of the Club’s Handicap League. The adults shot a triple face target, while the juniors shot on a larger single face, although James Hill elected to shoot the triple. The scratch scores were then adjusted according to handicap to give the overall positions irrespective of age, gender or bow type.
In the morning session Billy Lightfoot, Colin Moore and Pete Mumford hoped for the highest scratch score in the Compound division. Colin Moore put in yet another solid round, but although he hit nothing lower than a 9, he didn’t manage to hit the 10 often enough. Colin finished third in the morning session but was pushed down to fifth after Rhys and Dave Moore shot in the afternoon. Colin’s efforts were good enough for fourth place after handicapping. Pete Mumford likewise put in a solid shoot but a string of 9’s in the last dozen cost him, he finished fourth in scratch terms and eighth overall. Billy Lightfoot had been ill most of the week and probably would have been better off staying in bed as he was clearly suffering. Billy was still attempting to set up his new bow to his satisfaction and he spent most of the morning fiddling with it. He finally found a mix that worked over the last two dozen arrows to put in the highest score of the morning session. Rhys Moore outshot Billy by two points in the afternoon session but had to settle for sixth place overall, while Billy came third after handicapping. Dave Moore also shot well in the afternoon finishing third in scratch terms and seventh overall.
Family duties meant that Joy Gough had to wait until the afternoon to shoot, but when she did, her score was good enough to tie for fourth place after the handicap was applied.
In the old Universal horror movies of the 1940’s a limping, bandage clad Egyptian Mummy would amble slowly after the terrified leading lady who, in spite of putting in a turn of speed reminiscent of Usain Bolt, never managed to get away from him. Something similar seemed to be happening on Sunday, with ‘leading lady’ Barbara Harris trying to outdistance a Recurve toting ‘Mummy’ in the shape of the rather shambolic Danny Cowin. Danny hadn’t shot for some three weeks and was somewhat erratic, finding the centre one minute and losing it the next. Barbara started well, opening up a 13 point lead, but a tiring trip to Hull and a ten day break from shooting had done her no favours and she dipped into the red and blue scoring zones. Danny, who seemed unable to shoot anything but 7’s, suddenly hit a string of 10’s, while Barbara unexpectedly had a miss. The gap was cut to 7 points. Cowin hit three 8’s in his last six arrows and it looked as if Harris might just hold out for the scratch win, but she put another poor arrow in to the 6 zone and handed Danny victory by one point. After the handicap was applied however, Danny finished in dead last. While this pair were indulging in their usual grudge match, James Hill, Eric Lutes and Ralf Mitchell were also shooting. James seemed a little distracted and he wasn’t up to his usual standard as he failed to break 500. Eric Lutes had an all or nothing kind of a shoot; he was either in the middle or off the paper and he was nowhere near his best. Ralf Mitchell, shooting the round for the first time, was unhappy with the handful of misses he had, but he shot comparatively well and notched up another overall victory after the handicap was applied. Eric finished in eleventh place just behind Dave Berry who shot in the afternoon. Junior Tilly Ashton also shot in the afternoon and racked up a home soil pb which saw her secure second place after handicapping.
Also shooting were Chris Crompton, who recorded his third Barebow round at the Club, and Junior Compound archer Brandon Gough who completed his second round and just needs one more to be given a handicap.
Junior Club members Toby Young and Jacob Brookes travelled to Stoneleigh in England to take part in the Junior National Indoor Championships. Toby’s score of 60/500/17 put him 19th place in the u16 Boys, and Jacob’s score of 60/469/8 put him in 14th place in the u14 Boys.
Results Onchan Portsmouth Handicap: 1.R.Mitchell 1512 (56/460/9pb), 2.T.Ashton 1446 (59/511/16), 3.B.Lightfoot 1440 (60/573/32), 4.J.Gough 1433 (60/560/21), =4.C.Moore 1433 (60/562/22), 6.R.Moore 1431 (60/575/35), 7.D.Moore 1429 (60/567/29), 8.P.Mumford 1422 (60/563/23), 9.J.Hill 1421 (59/498/23), 10.D.Berry 1415 (60/513/13), 11.E.Lutes 1403 (55/457/8), 12.B.Harris 1399 (59/516/14), 13.D.Cowin 1395 (60/517/15). Scratch Portsmouth: Gents Barebow- C.Crompton 60/464/4. Boys Compound-B.Gough 59/404/2.
Isle of Man Archery Club 