It was business as usual at Greeba at the weekend as far as the weather was concerned, with the scorching temperatures of the Sunday before replaced by leaden skies, a chilly breeze and the threat of rain. The conditions certainly seemed to have a dampening effect on most of the archers. The round of the day was a WA 720, that is 72 arrows shot at a single distance – 70m for Recurve, 50m for Compound, with the children shooting a distance according to age group. The round was shot as part of the Club’s Handicap League.
The morning session was well attended but as Ralf Mitchell, Graham Makepeace-Warne and Chris Crompton were unable to reach the required distance, they were unable to take part in the competition and contented themselves with a practice round. This left Dave and Rhys Moore, Joy Gough, Pete Mumford Colin Moore, Barbara Harris, Jane Berry and junior Tilly Ashton to go for glory.
Dave Moore was trying out a different kind of release aid which transferred the weight of the string from his injured hand to his wrist. This took a little getting used to but he quickly found that it was to his liking and the X 10’s began to flow. His scratch score was second highest Compound score and was good enough for second place overall after the handicap was applied. Rhys took the scratch honours for Compound but his score was nowhere near his best, which was reflected in the sixth place he slotted into after handicapping. Pete Mumford, hampered by a recent operation to his neck had a so-so shoot, but still managed to secure third place overall. Joy Gough had what she described as ‘a bad day at the office’ was glad when it was over, and Colin Moore thought that if he added his score to that of the person he was shooting with, it wouldn’t look too bad. As it was Colin finished bottom of the handicap table.
On the recurve side of things Barbara Harris was unable to recapture the form she had shown away at Chippenham, and while she recorded the highest Recurve scratch score of the day, her efforts were only good enough for fourth place overall. Jane Berry, who had pb’d in the 720 round the week before, found her sight marks top be completely out of whack and she struggled to find the range. It was only when she relaxed with six arrows to go that she began to hit the gold. Tilly Ashton did not enjoy the weather on Sunday but it had no effect on her as she tackled the Cadet distance of 60m for the first time. Even with a couple of misses the young archer posted a score that was simultaneously a pb, a new Club record and good enough to take the overall win by a considerable margin.
The forecast for the afternoon was for the wind to drop and temperatures to improve. Unfortunately for Nathan Kinrade, James Hill and Brandon Gough who turned up for the second session and for those who had stayed on from the morning, the reverse happened. The archers struggled on against the cold but once the rain set in the shoot had to be abandoned after four dozen arrows. It is hoped that Brandon won’t be put off by his first taste of Outdoor competition and that we have better weather next week.
Results WA 720 Handicap- 1.T.Ashton 1465 (70/468/4/2)NCR,pb, 2.D.Moore 1431 (71/628/20/12), 3.P.Mumford 1423 (72/624/16/5), 4.B.Harris 1422 (72/514/7/0), 5.J.Gough 1421 (71/581/10/6), 6.J.Berry 1389 (69/400/4/0), 7.C.Moore 1360 (69/537/4/2)
Isle of Man Archery Club 