The Records Officer allowed the membership to ease into the New Year with a Portsmouth round. The compound archers as usual utilized a triple face target, while the recurves stuck to a single face. With Christmas out of the way there was a slightly better turnout, and the round was shot as part of the Club’s scratch league.
Pete Mumford had some competition in the Gents Compound, as both Rhys and Dave Moore made their return to Onchan. Dave shot solidly, never dropping out of the yellow centre, but he just couldn’t hit enough 10’s and he had to settle for third place. Rhys led by two points after the first dozen but a slew of 9’s in the second dozen saw Pete pull level. Rhys edged in front again, only to see Pete square things going into the final dozen. The younger Moore then showed what he was capable of as he dropped only three points with his last twelve arrows, while Pete Mumford strayed into the 8 zone for the first time, snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.
Lone Lady Compound Joy Gough put in a solid round but too many 9’s and a peppering of 8’s meant she was down a little on her previous showing.
The largest field of the day was in the Gents Recurve with Peter Howland, Chris Addy, Ralf Mitchell, Simon Kenyon and Danny Cowin all aiming to start 2020 with a victory. It would be more accurate to say that Danny Cowin expected to win the battle of the men and he was more interested in out-shooting the Records Officer Barbara Harris, who has posted the highest recurve score of the day on all but one occasion since the season started. When Cowin stated categorically before the shoot started that this was the week he would beat her, Harris replied that she hoped he had brought a big stick with him as that was the only beating he had any chance of administering.
It looked at first as though Harris would have to eat her words as Danny found the centre of the target immediately, while Barbara found her arrows going high into the 7’s. After six arrows Harris found herself 4 points down, having opened with a disappointing 48. She then noticed that she had put her sight arm in the wrong place and after repositioning it, shot 57 with her next six arrows, turning a 4 point deficit into a 3 point lead. After that the gap just kept getting wider, Harris finished 24 points ahead, and Danny had to be content with being the best male recurve on the day.
The rest of the Gents field had mixed fortunes. Peter Howland’s poor showing could be explained by his using a new bow for the first time but the two misses from Simon Kenyon, which cost him second place, were inexplicable. Chris Addy also had a miss and finished a little down on his best. Ralf Mitchell was pleased with his efforts, having put in a nice consistent shoot and earning himself second place.
Barebow archer Chris Crompton put in a season’s best score and seems to be heading back into the form that saw him lift the Barebow Champions Trophy last year.
Four Junior’s also turned up to shoot, James Hill, Nathan Kinrade, Dylan Addy and Brandon Gough. James Hill took the honours with a decent shoot that was only marred by a late miss. Nathan Kinrade wasn’t up to his usual standard but finished strongly, as did Dylan Addy, who got better as the day went on. An out of sorts Brandon Gough didn’t really do himself justice in the Boys Compound which was mainly due to a lack of practice.
Results Portsmouth: Gents Compound- 1.R.Moore 60/573/33, 2.P.Mumford 60/568/29, 3.D.Moore 60/558/18. Ladies Compound- J.Gough 60/553/17. Gents Recurve- 1.D.Cowin 60/526/16, 2.R.Mitchell 60/478/9, 3.S.Kenyon 58/470/5, 4.P.Howland 60/455/8, 5.C.Addy 59/454/7. Ladies Recurve- B.Harris 60/550/21. Gents Barebow- C.Crompton 60/499/10. Boys Recurve- 1.J.Hill 59/515/15, 2.N.Kinrade 60/472/10, 3.D.Addy 50/293/2. Boys Compound-B.Gough 56/459/2.
Isle of Man Archery Club 