There was a disappointingly low turnout for this year’s senior Club Championships, with direct competition in only two categories and no representation at all in Barebow or Longbow. Skies were heavy and overcast with the threat of scattered showers, but temperatures were good and there was no wind to speak of. The Championships are based on a WA 1440 round.
The Championships were shot under Archery GB rules, with Charlotte Harris (who represented the IoM in Archery at the Junior Commonwealth Games in Samoa 2015) manning the stopwatch and whistle and acting as Judge in case of a line-cutter dispute.
The Gents Compound division saw Brummie-in-exile Andrew Westmorland make his Championship debut. Talkative and slow on the line in general, the strict timing of 4 minutes per 6 arrows forced Andrew into a rhythm that helped rather than hindered. By the end of the first distance (90m) he was 19 points ahead of Pete Mumford and only 6 points behind, a slow out of the blocks, Rhys Moore. Rhys could not seem to find high gear and shot adequately but not well at the longer distances (90 and 70m), before exasperating himself at 50m by putting an arrow into someone else’s target and registering a miss. It was not until he reached the final distance that Rhys realized he had had his draw hand in the wrong position. Once he adjusted the hand his accuracy returned, and his score skyrocketed. Rhys’ efforts were more than enough to take the win and retain his title, but he was well below his usual 1300+ standard. Meanwhile Pete Mumford and Andrew Westmorland continued the fight for second place. Pete found the 70m distance more to his liking and clawed back 9 points, but Westie retained a 10 point advantage going into the afternoon session. To prevent arrow damage on the smaller targets of the shorter distances the archers shot arrows in groups of three with a time allowance of 2 mins. The 3 arrow ends did not seem to suit Westie quite as well, while Pete finally found some form and firmly established himself in second place. Pete then outshot Westie at the final distance and, while Westie added 37 points to his pb for the round, he had to settle for third place this year.
It was a straight head to head showdown between Alex Snell and Danny Cowin in the Gents Recurve. Both men had struggled with form over the truncated season, but Alex had been able to put in more practice time than Danny and it showed on Sunday. Danny found himself unable to capitalize on a decent opening end at 90m and a handful of misses allowed Alex to seize the initiative. Danny seemed to have settled down at 70m, clawing back 5 points against Alex. Unfortunately, Danny had made changes to his bow that had altered his sight marks without having the chance to get new ones for the shorter distances. Going into the afternoon session he was forced to guess at a sight mark for 50m which proved to be wrong. By the time Danny had found the new mark, his chances of victory had evaporated and out shooting Alex at the final distance could not make up for the disappointment of losing his title. Alex, while not being up the form of previous years, put in a season’s best score to lift the trophy.
Joy Gough (Compound) joined Barbara Harris (Recurve) to shoot the Ladies distances, with both women simply having to complete the round to retain their respective titles. Joy was looking to put the disappointing scores of the previous week behind her and she did just that. A miss late on at 50m cost her a season’s best score but she finished strongly at 30m and was pleased with her efforts. Barbara Harris was out of sorts and in pain. A shoulder injury incurred earlier in the season flared up during the second distance (60m) and turned the shoot into something of a grind. She struggled to get through the last six arrows which was reflected in a poor 30m distance total and no one was more surprised than Barbara to discover that she had somehow shot a season’s best score.
The Club extends its thanks to Charlotte Harris for her services as Timekeeper/Judge and for putting up with a great deal of barracking from the, so called, gentlemen archers. We wish her well in her final year at University.
Results: Senior Club Championships- Gents Compound- 1.R.Moore 1283/143/49/13, 2.P.Mumford 144/1244/38/13, 3.A.Westmorland 144/1235/29/8pb. Gents Recurve- 1.A.Snell 142/968/6/2sb, 2.D.Cowin 135/902/9/5. Ladies Compound- J.Gough 143/1248/28/8. Ladies Recurve 144/1141/15/5sb.
Isle of Man Archery Club 