Even with a contingent of archers off island at the Wigan and Orrell shoot, there was still a decent turnout at Onchan on Sunday. The round of the day, both on and off the island, was a Portsmouth. The Recurve archers shot on a single face target and the Compounds on a triple-face, though Recurvers Barbara Harris and Alex Allen-Snell opted for the triple-face target too. The round at Onchan formed part of the Club’s Handicap League which meant that all bow types/ages and genders were in competition with each other.
Pete Mumford, Joy Gough and Chris Crompton were joined by Junior Club members Brandon Gough, Tilly Ashton, Nathan Kinrade and Toby Young on a trip to Bamber Bridge in England. For once Pete and Joy did not figure in the top three in their division, but Chris Crompton, attending his first away shoot with the Club, got within 2 points of his pb to secure second place in the Gents Barebow with a score of 60/522/15. Brandon was not on his best form but still managed to take silver in the u14 Boys Compound with his total of 58/47/3. Toby Young was also a bit below par but managed third place in the u18 Boys Recurve with a score of 60/523/18. Tilly Ashton added 3 points to her pb to come second in the u16 Girls Recurve with a score of 60/540/21 and Nathan Kinrade added a terrific 24 points to his pb to come second in the u14 Boys Recurve on 60/536/18. Well done.
With Pete Mumford away at the Orrell shoot, the seldom seen, Billy Lightfoot stepped in to maintain the geriatric end of the Compound scale and provide some competition for Dave and Rhys Moore. Given the fact that Billy had only picked up his bow again after a six month lay-off, it was not surprising that Rhys made the better start, dropping only three points in the first dozen. Lightfoot came back at him, cutting the deficit to just one point. It was not until the fourth dozen that a lack of ‘match fitness’ began to take it’s toll on Billy and he slipped out of the 10’s and into the 9’s. Rhys maintained his form to the end and took the scratch honours 5 points ahead of Billy, with Dave Moore a further a points behind. After the handicap was applied Rhys and Billy finished in joint third place.
Once again, the Gents Recurve provided the largest field of the day with Peter Howland, Ralf Mitchell, Chris Addy, Alex Allen-Snell and Danny Cowin looking to take scratch honours. As usual it came down to a fight between Danny and Alex, with the rest making up the numbers. Alex led over the first two dozen before Danny leapfrogged him to go three points up. Alex responded by putting in his best dozen total of the day which put him back into the lead. Danny shot consistently but never caught fire and Alex ran out the winner by 9 points. After handicapping Alex finished eighth and Danny tenth. Peter Howland shot consistently to be the best of rest but found himself down in ninth after the handicap was applied. Ralf Mitchell kept quiet long enough to secure fifth place overall. Chris Addy looked to be about to break the 500 barrier but his last dozen, which included a couple of misses and two 4’s, let him down. However, once his score was adjusted by the magic of the handicap tables, Addy took second place.
Barbara Harris kept herself to herself as she quietly helped boss partner James Hill iron out some of his problems. James made excellent progress over the morning and wrote of the shoot as a training exercise. Harris went on to equal her pb for the three spot Portsmouth and record the highest Recurve score of the day, but her efforts were only good enough for sixth place after handicapping.
Colin Moore broke out his Trad bow by way of a change from Barebow or Compound. Colin switched between two different sets of arrows as he tried to find the best fit. He was not happy with his score, but he took the overall win after the handicap had been applied.
Results Onchan Portsmouth Handicap-1.C.Moore 1468 (60/426/6), 2.C.Addy 1464 (58/477/9), 3.B.Lightfoot 1438 (60/568/28), =3.R.Moore 1438 (60/573/33), 5.R.Mitchell 1434 (60/478/9), 6.B.Harris 1433 (60/562/31), 7.D.Moore 1432 (60/564/26), 8.A.Allen-Snell 1430 (60/534/17), 9.P.Howland 1412 (60/487/8), 10.D.Cowin 1411 (60/525/12), 11.J.Hill 1389 (60/476/17).
Isle of Man Archery Club 