The Isle of Man Archery Club celebrated St Patrick’s Day in restrained style by shooting a round as part of the Club’s Scratch League. The round of the day was a WA 18 3/s for the Seniors, with a Portsmouth for the Juniors.
With Rhys Moore off island having shouted himself horse in support of Scotland at Twickenham, Dave Moore busy working, and Billy Lightfoot still recovering from a chest infection; Pete Mumford and Colin Moore found themselves in a straight head to head competition in the Gents Compound. Colin was a little out of practice with his Compound bow and it showed as Peter led from start to finish to take the win by a clear 17 points.
Joy Gough continued to progress nicely with her new style in the Ladies Compound and did not have to re-set once in the morning shoot. Joy carried on in the afternoon shooting a Vegas round that was only 2 points off her pb and looks ready for the Outdoor season.
The largest field of the day was once more in the Gents Recurve. Danny Cowin was back in action after a break enjoying the IoM Festival of Darts, and found himself up against Dave Berry, Greg Altham and Peter Howland. Danny’s shooting could best be described as erratic. His first six arrows included three Golds (10’s), his next six included two misses and so it went on. Danny followed up a disappointing sub total of 45 out of 60, with a near perfect 59. Peter Howland had a nightmare of a day racking up 21 misses that put him firmly in last place. Dave Berry, struggling with a wrist problem, likewise had a bad day at the office and only just broke 400. Greg Altham had an early miss but found himself with a 3 point lead over Danny Cowin at the halfway stage. But Danny, who was enjoying himself winding up the Records Officer, began to motor after the break, while Greg had another two misses. Danny turned the 3 point deficit into a 23 point lead in the space of six arrows and went on to take the win from Greg by a clear 46 points. Out of practice or not Danny Cowin is still the man to beat.
Chris Crompton shot a single face WA18 Barebow and added 9 points to his pb.
In the Ladies Recurve Barbara Harris and Jane Berry shot the round of the day, while Kristen Joughin, who was clearly under the weather, opted for the single face WA 18. Jane shooting in the afternoon session was back after illness and had to settle for second place. Barbara found herself engaged in a private war with Danny Cowin with whom she was sharing a boss in the morning session but gave as good as she got. The gamesmanship of the two became more pointed as the lead in their unofficial competition changed hands. Evenly matched in the sarcasm department the two ended up with the same score, but Danny took the honours by virtue of having hit twice as many Golds.
Also shooting in the morning session was Ralf Mitchell who tried his hand at the Rhubarb (a specialty round at the Club). Ralf proved that even a man who thought the target face he was shooting on was called a Plymouth could comprehensively beat Rhys Moore at the Rhubarb.
In the afternoon session most of the Juniors shot a Portsmouth (or a Plymouth if your Ralf) as scores were needed for the last round of the NCAS Junior Portsmouth Postal League. Toby Young took the win as expected, but Nathan Kinrade added 3 points to his pb to take second place and push Jacob Brookes down into third in the Junior Gents Recurve. Tilly Ashton broke 500 yet again in the Junior Ladies Recurve. Brandon Gough shot a WA 18 for the first time. He needed the round for the Club’s Junior Compound Scratch League and Brandon so well that he took a chunk off his handicap in the process.
Results- WA18 3/s: Gents Compound- 1.P.Mumford 60/552/14, 2.C.Moore 60/535/11. Ladies Compound-J.Gough 60/538/11. Gents Recurve- 1.D.Cowin 58/499/20, 2.G.Altham 55/453/8, 3.D.Berry 52/403/6, 4.P.Howland 39/294/3. Ladies Recurve-1.B.Harris 59/499/10, 2.J.Berry 56/471/13. WA18: Gents Barebow-C.Crompton 60/450/7pb. Ladies Recurve-K.Joughin 58/325/3. Junior Gents Compound-B.Gough 60/437/2pb. Rhubarb: R.Mitchell 49/264/1pb. Portsmouth: Junior Gents Recurve- 1.T.Young 60/530/17, 2.N.Kinrade 60/496/11pb, 3.J.Brookes 60/455/3. Junior Ladies Recurve-T.Ashton 60/501/3.
Isle of Man Archery Club 