Twelve archers turned out on Sunday to take on each other and the rather challenging lighting conditions at Onchan. The lights in the hall, heavily caged to protect them from footballs and basket balls might be adequate for such sports, but when an archer is attempting to hit a Gold with a 2cm diameter, from a range of 18m the shadows they cast are less than helpful. The round of the day was a WA 18, with triple face target for the Compounds and a single face for the Recurves and Juniors.
It was great to have Matt Elliot back in the Recurve line up. The Invictus Games medallist was shooting for the first time in ten months after sustaining a back injury in car crash. Matt celebrated his return by adding 6 points to his pb for the round but was pushed down into second place by Greg Altham who was shooting the round for the first time. Peter Howland completed the line-up, and while he kept all his arrows on target, he did not score heavily enough to be in contention.
Colin Moore broke out his Barebow kit to have a go at the round but was no where near his best form.
Barbara Harris was the only Lady Recurve in action. Harris was tired and seemed to lack focus, but she outshot the men to be the only Recurver to break the 500 barrier and her form generally seemed to be improving.
The largest field of the day was provided by the Gents Compound as Pete Mumford, Billy Lightfoot, and Rhys and Dave Moore fought for supremacy. Pete Mumford made the best start, with Dave just a point behind and Rhys a further point back. Billy didn’t manage to hit a 10 until his seventh arrow and found himself 5 points off the pace in fourth. By the end of the second dozen Pete had extended his lead, Billy had levelled things with Dave and Rhys was headed for the ignominy of last place. At the end of the third dozen Pete seemed to be coasting to victory with a 4 point lead over Billy and 6 points clear of Dave whose arrows had slipped into the red. Annoyed by this Dave attacked the next dozen to put in his best 12 arrows of the day; while it was Pete’s turn to drop into the 8 zone.
Going into the last dozen Billy was tied with Dave on 443 with Pete just 1 point ahead on 444. Pete put another arrow in an 8 but a string of 9’s from the opposition actually meant he had a 2 point advantage with six arrows to go and the match was his to lose – and lose he did. With only one arrow finding a 10 and another straying into the 7 Pete found himself sliding down to third. Billy only dropped 3 points with his last six arrows and Dave dropped only 2 points to take the win – or so it seemed. The Records Officer, whose job it is to check the scores, found that Mr Lightfoot had made a mistake with his running total early in the shoot and had won by a single point.
Joy Gough had disappointing shoot with too many 7’s and even a 6, but finished strongly with her best dozen total of the day.
Junior archers Jacob Brookes and Nathan Kinrade went face to face in the afternoon session. Nathan was looking for back to back victories over Jacob, but it wasn’t to be. Neither boy shot to their usual standard, with both recording misses but Jacob rode out the comfortable winner.
Results WA18: Gents Recurve- 1.G.Altham 60/492/12pb, 2.M.Elliott 60/480/8pb, 3.P.Howland 60/394/2. Ladies Recurve- B.Harris 60/505/10. Gents Barebow – C.Moore 58/362/5. Gents Compound- 1.B.Lightfoot 60/557/19, 2.D.Moore 60/556/22, 3.P.Mumford 60/553/18, 4.R.Moore 60/545/12. Ladies Compound- J.Gough 60/540/16. Junior Gents Recurve- 1.J.Brooks 57/428/10, 2.N.Kinrade 59/360/2.
Isle of Man Archery Club 