The Hub at Onchan played host to the IoMAC Senior Indoor Championships at the weekend. The Championship round is a WA 18 three-spot target for Compound and Recurve, with Barebow shooting on the larger single face version. The shoot was run under strict AGB rules – two minutes to shoot three arrows, with line changes and collections being done by signal whistle. Dave Berry, who was out of action with a shoulder injury kindly volunteered to operate the shot clock and co-ordinate the shoot. There were a number of last minute cancellations and one last minute addition to the line-up, which meant 17 archers were in action; three of whom were making their Championship debut.
Rhys Moore, Dave Moore, Andrew Westmorland and Pete Mumford faced each other once again in the Gents Compound division. Defending Champion Rhys Moore, having started the season well, then fading over the last few weeks, was hoping to put his troubles behind him, but it was not to be. A miss in the first dozen effectively ended his hopes of retaining the title. Another miss after the break meant he was on damage limitation duties for the rest of the shoot. Dave Moore made a decent start but was still breaking in his new bow and he found it difficult to stay in the 10 zone. A slew of 9’s followed by more 8’s than he has shot all season combined, meant that Dave had to settle for second place. Andrew Westmorland had made a terrific start to his archery career and was perhaps guilty of over-expectation in his debut at the Club Championships. Andrew had never competed under the restrictions of the shot clock and this seemed to affect his performance a little. That said, Andrew was not far off the pace and if he hadn’t had a miss in his second dozen, he would have made it onto the podium. It was left to ‘the Old Master’ Pete Mumford to show them how to do it. Pete was unfazed by the shot clock, his competitors and even Dave Moore dropping his cup with a clang. (The cup rolled out around the feet of those on the shooting line before describing a neat arc back to it’s owner). Pete led from start to finish to lift the Trophy and triumphantly bump elbows with his partner Joy Gough, handshakes being outlawed under the current health restrictions of the Corona Virus.
Joy Gough found herself unopposed again in the Ladies Compound and effectively used the time to practice with her back tension release aid.
The largest field of the day came in the Gents Recurve. Whilst it was the Senior Championships, the competition is open to the more experienced Juniors. Last year’s winner Toby Young came from the Junior ranks and was hoping to retain his title. He found himself up against fellow Juniors Nathan Kinrade and James Hill, as well as Seniors Peter Howland, Chris Addy, Simon Kenyon, Alex Allen-Snell and Ralf Mitchell. Alex was a last minute entrant following the cancellation of plans that would have kept him out of action. In all honesty, the standard of the shoot was not high. All of those involved had misses and all but two of the Gents underperformed. The exceptions were Simon Kenyon, who added 12 points to his pb, and Nathan Kinrade, who added a monumental 131 points to his pb to secure fourth place. Ralf Mitchell’s woes with his new heavier limbs continued. He hit more target pins that he did target faces and, the Records Officer soon discovered when she came to check the score cards, Ralf’s arithmetic was about as accurate as his shooting. Going on form, the title race was between Toby and James, but James never got into his stride and the fight ended up being between Toby and Alex. After two dozen arrows Alex had four misses to Toby’s two but he was only 3 points behind. Alex went back to basics and the misses stopped happening. At the same time Toby seemed to lose concentration and two more misses from him allowed Alex to take the lead. Once ahead Alex was never in danger of being caught and he gave himself an early birthday present by lifting the trophy.
The Ladies Recurve saw Barbara Harris and Sarah-Jayne Sleddon in a straight head to head. Unfortunately, Sarah-Jayne’s light sensitivity played havoc with her shoot. A move to the darkest corner of the hall after the break help considerably and allowed Sarah-Jayne to finish. While Barbara comfortably retained her title, Sarah-Jayne’s efforts were not wasted as her handicap score was the highest of the Championship debutantes and she claimed the Novice Trophy.
Chris Crompton and Colin Moore also had a straight shoot out in the Gents Barebow. Colin put in a season’s best score but could not prevent Chris from retaining the title he won last year.
Results Senior Indoor Championships: Gents Compound- 1.P.Mumford 60/555/20, 2.D.Moore 60/537/12, 3.R.Moore 58/529/14, 4.A Westmorland 59/523/7. Ladies Compound- J.Gough 60/526/11. Gents Recurve- 1.A.Allen-Snell 56/490/15, 2.T.Young 56/472/7, 3.J.Hill 56/451/8, 4.N.Kinrade 55/440/10pb, 5.P.Howland 55/437/4, 6.S.Kenyon 52/414/7pb, 7.C.Addy 47/369/6, 8.R.Mitchell 35/263/1. Ladies Recurve- 1.B.Harris 60/525/14, 2.S-J.Sleddon 44/340/5. Gents Barebow- 1.C.Crompton 60/467/9, 2.C.Moore 60/447/9.
Isle of Man Archery Club 