Numbers were rather low on Sunday which is often the case towards the end of the season, but there was still some decent shooting on display. The round of the day was a Portsmouth: single face target for Recurves, triple face for Compound, shot as part of the Club’s Scratch League.
It was the usual suspects who lined up in the Gents Compound division: Dave Moore, Pete Mumford and Rhys Moore. Dave Moore was shooting his new bow for the first time and needed to fiddle with both the sight and the weights so centre the shot. This meant that Dave realistically had no chance of winning, but he was pleased with the progress he made over the morning and was confident of better things to come. Rhys Moore handicapped himself by forgetting his contact lenses which forced him to shoot in his glasses resulting in a blurred target. While never straying outside of the 9, Rhys just couldn’t quite hit enough 10’s. Rhys managed to square things with Pete Mumford by the end of the second dozen arrows but after that Pete was always a couple of points ahead to take the win in relaxed style. Rhys had to be content with a very tidy target and second place.
Joy Gough put in another solid round but, like Rhys, while she never put an arrow outside of the 9, she just couldn’t convert them to 10’s. Carrying on into the afternoon session Joy shot a Double round that left her just a handful of points short of her pb.
There four contestants in the Gents Recurve: Peter Howland, Dave Berry, Eric Lutes and Josh Trafford. Eric Lutes had the best start, opening up a 9 point lead over his nearest rival Peter Howland. In the second dozen Eric, unhappy with his set up, tried to come down off the shot but failed to hang onto the arrow and it went into the ballistic netting. At the same time Josh Trafford began to get into his stride. Josh leapfrogged Peter Howland and found himself all square with Eric Lutes. Eric quickly got over his disappointing miss to retake the outright lead. Josh retaliated with a stunning fourth dozen total to turn a 2 point deficit into a 3 point lead. Eric shot well, but Josh matched his score and Eric had to settle for a new pb and second place. Dave Berry, shooting for the first time with a remodelled grip on his riser, had a slow start. Firmly in last place after the first dozen, Dave persevered and managed to get within 3 points of Peter Howland by the end of the next dozen. Improving with every end, Dave found himself 5 points ahead of Peter by the end of the third dozen. Out of nowhere Peter had a miss, which effectively ended his fight for third place and dashed his hopes of breaking 500 for the first time. A subsequent miss in the last dozen sealed Peter’s fate and he had to settle for fourth place. By way of consolation Peter added 15 points to his pb for the round. Dave Berry meanwhile, recorded a season’s best score for the round.
Colin Moore and Chris Crompton turned up to shoot in the Gents Barebow division, but Colin had picked up a wrist injury whilst golfing and after three arrows realized he couldn’t continue. Everyone at the Club wishes him a speedy recovery. Chris Crompton on the other hand, had a terrific session, adding 43 points to his pb for the round and gearing himself up for an assault on the Rhubarb on the final Sunday of the season.
Lone Lady Recurver Barbara Harris elected to shoot the smaller triple face Portsmouth (scoring zones only go to the inner blue 6 ring) on Sunday morning. Barbara was not really herself, another attempt to cut down on her caffeine intake merely made her feel listless. A ‘brainfreeze’ moment just before the break which saw her put an arrow just wide of the mark, made her see sense. A quick visit to the coffee machine and the purchase of a latte fortified with a double espresso soon had her wide awake and she finished the round without further mishap.
Only three of the Club’s Juniors were in action but they put on a fine display. In the Junior Gents Recurve Jacob Brookes put in a season’s best score that was just 1 point short of his all time best to take the win from James Hill. James shot quite well but seemed to run out of steam in the last dozen.
In the Junior Ladies Recurve, Tilly Ashton shot up a storm. Ranged alongside her Uncle Dave Berry and using new arrows Tilly easily outshot him to record the highest Recurve Portsmouth of the day. She dropped only 5 points with her last dozen arrows to add 2 points to her pb and carve a chunk of her handicap into the bargain.
Results: Portsmouth 3/s-Gents Compound-1.P.Mumford 60/566/27, 2.R.Moore 60/564/24, 3.D.Moore 60/556/17. Ladies Compound-J.Gough 60/555/15. Ladies Recurve-B.Harris 59/523/12. Portsmouth(s/f)-Gents Recurve-1.J.Trafford 60/532/17, 2.E.Lutes 59/529/21pb, 3.D.Berry 60/521/12, 4.P.Howland 58/490/11pb. Gents Barebow-C.Crompton 60/524/18pb. Junior Gents Recurve-1.J.Brookes 60/520/16, 2.J.Hill 60/510/11. Junior Ladies Recurve-T.Ashton 60/539/20pb.
Double Portsmouth 3/s-J.Gough 120/1104/29.
Isle of Man Archery Club 