Favourable weather conditions finally allowed a full day’s shoot to take place at Greeba on Sunday. The round of the day was a WA 1440, three dozen arrows at each of four distances (90/70/50/30m for the Gents, 70/60/50/30m for the Ladies). Most of the archers viewed it as an endurance test, hoping to get through it rather than looking for big scores. Temperatures were cool to start with but got warmer as the day progressed and what wind there was affected only the longest of the Gents distances.
In the Gents Compound, regulars Rhys and Dave Moore and Pete Mumford were joined by newbie Andrew Westmorland in his first ever outdoor competition. Andrew found the conditions on the line a little cramped and had difficulty in identifying his arrows at distance through the scope, but time and experience will take care of that. Family commitments meant that he could only stay for the morning session but his score for the Long Metric (90 and 70m) was excellent for a first attempt and bodes well for the future. Of those shooting the full day Pete Mumford made the best start opening up a 6 point lead over Rhys Moore by the end of the 90m distance. Unfortunately, a slow start at 70m allowed Rhys to overturn the deficit and edge into the lead. Rhys consolidated his position at 50m giving him a 14 point advantage going into the final distance. Pete clawed back a couple of points at 30m but he had to be content with setting a new pb while Rhys claimed victory for the second week in a row. Dave Moore had a bit of an average day by his standards but still managed to record a Bowman score along with Rhys and Pete.
As usual Joy Gough was looking to break 300 at each distance but a poor 70m put paid to that. Joy did manage to reach her self-imposed target at the remaining distances which meant she broke the 1200 barrier but a couple of misses late on saw her fall just short of a Bowman score.
It was a straight head to head shoot-out in the Gents Recurve between Alex Snell and Danny Cowin. Alex had been struggling with 90m during the practice sessions, while Danny hadn’t had any practice at 90m at all. Both men had misses but while Danny’s dozen totals steadily improved at 90m, Alex never got into a groove and he was glad when it was over. Too experienced to allow his poor showing at the first distance put him off, Alex re-focussed, the misses dried up and both his timing and score improved. Danny likewise began to find a rhythm and while he only put one arrow into the gold his groupings were tighter. By the half-way stage Danny had a 45 point lead. The lunch break did Danny no favours. The pause interrupted his flow and he had the added handicap of being moved onto a boss with Barbara Harris who gave him the full benefit of her acerbic wit. Danny was determined to outshoot Barbara at either 50 or 30m and she was equally determined that he would not. A poor start by Barbara at 30m gave Danny a chance but she said she was not worried as she was sure he would wing one into the black. Danny contemptuously responded that he would never hit the black at 30m – the words were barely out of his mouth before he missed the target altogether. Harris was so shaken with laughter that she put her next arrow into the blue which dented her score a bit, but she still broke 300 which was more than Danny could manage. Danny took victory in the Gents Recurve by 62 points. Alex Snell was happy with the progress he had made over the day. Barbara Harris was happy break 300 at the 60m distance for the first time and record her second Bowman score of the season.
Also shooting a half day session were Compounder Colin Moore and Junior Recurves’ James Hill and Nathan Kinrade. Colin joined James in a Long Metric 1 (70 & 60m) where James added 34 points to his pb. Nathan shot a Short Metric II for the first time since moving up an age group.
Results WA 1440: Gents Compound – 1.R.Moore 144/1304/57/16, 2.P.Mumford 144/1292/54/19pb, 3.D.Moore 143/1248/40/9. Ladies Compound – J. Gough 142/1213/38/14. Gents Recurve – 1.D.Cowin 142/985/8/2, 2.A.Snell 136/923/11/4. Ladies Recurve – B.Harris 144/1133/16/5. Long Metric – A.Westmorland 72/586/11/3pb. Long Metric I: Gents Compound – C.Moore 72/602/5/4. Junior Gents Recurve – J.Hill 70/449/4/2pb. Short Metric II: Junior Gents Recurve – N.Kinrade 69/504/7/2.
Isle of Man Archery Club 