The annual Windsor Trophy shoot saw the best turnout of the season so far, with an even dozen archers trying to lift the silverware. The Windsor Trophy is a unisex event divided by bow type rather than by gender. The round consists of 36 arrows shot at each of three distances 60, 50 and 40 yards. Being a National round five zone scoring is used that is- 9,7,5,3,1.
It was very wet underfoot, with the odd spot of rain still in the air as the field was set up. The skies were threatening and the wind, though light, was from the north and therefore rather chilly. As it was the conditions veered from cool, to sun drenched and back again over the course of the day.
Colin Moore, Pete Mumford, Joy Gough, Andy Westmorland and Rhys Moore, were joined in the Compound division by Cliff Graves, finally out of isolation after being stranded in Jersey during lockdown. Joy, without being negative, realised her chances of winning against the men were slight and opted to take the opportunity to break in a new sight on her bow. This changed her sight picture completely and Joy found herself over-aiming to the detriment of her timing and consequently her score. Switching out the dark insert for a lighter coloured one half-way through the shoot improved matters and Joy finished in fourth place. Colin Moore picked up a shoulder injury at the second distance and could not continue, which left four in the running. Cliff Grave began the day without sight marks which put a dent in both his chances and his score. A couple of misses at the second distance sealed his fate and he dropped to the bottom of the leader board. Andrew Westmorland, shooting the round for first time, had more trouble filling in the scoresheet than he had shooting. The concept of ‘Grand Totals’ was obviously something he was not familiar with, but the Records Officer is fortunately a patient, sweet-tempered woman, who is happy to deal with score card snafus on a weekly basis. Westie finished in third place just 6 points behind the eventual winner. Form suggested from the outset that the Trophy would go to either Pete Mumford or Rhys Moore. Rhys, having taken the Senior Championship Trophy, was looking to back up his win and Pete was looking to retain the Trophy he had won the previous season in Rhys’ absence. Rhys made the perfect start, maxing the first two dozen arrows before a string of 7’s broke his run. Going into the second distance Rhys had a lead of 6 points. He opened with another six perfect arrows, before once again dipping into the 7 zone. Meanwhile it was Pete’s turn to put in a perfect dozen and the end of the second distance saw Rhys’s lead cut to 4 points. Pete opened the final distance with another perfect dozen; Rhys put one arrow outside the 9 zone – his lead was now just 2 points. The second dozen saw a repeat of the first and meant that Rhys and Pete were level going into the final dozen. They then matched each other arrow for arrow right down to the last one which Rhys put into the 7 and Pete put into the 9. By the closest possible margin Pete Mumford claimed victory to retain his title of Windsor Champion.
The Recurve contest was considerably less dramatic, consisting of a three-way tie between Junior Recurve Champion James Hill, Ladies Recurve Champion Barbara Harris and, Scotland’s answer to Mr Magoo, Ralf Mitchell. Ralf was, as always, quite happy with his performance and indeed, there were moments when he almost looked as if he knew what he was doing. Ralf added 39 points to his pb for the round on the way to third place. James Hill was shooting the round for the first time but had a good chance of lifting the trophy. Barbara Harris had never done well in the Windsor and was nursing knee, back and neck injuries courtesy of a misjudgement involving a loft bed. Unfortunately for James, Barbara is always at her best when injured and Sunday was no exception. Determined to simply get through the shoot, Barbara paid no attention to her score with the result that she led from start to finish, adding 43 points to her pb to take the title for the first time. James put in a creditable performance, outscoring Barbara at the final distance to finish just 28 points behind.
The Short Windsor Trophy (50,40 & 30y) was a straight head to head between Nathan Kinrade and Tilly Ashton. Tilly just couldn’t find her range over the first two distances and although she outscored Nathan at 30 yards it was too little, too late and Nathan took the Trophy by a considerable margin, breaking the Club Record into the bargain.
Ollie Blockley was the only entrant for the Short Junior Windsor. Unable to get sight marks due to adverse weather, Ollie was using marks graphed for her by Pete Mumford based on her sight marks for the metric distances. His calculations must have been spot on as she put in a decent 30y score before her form dipped at the second distance. Ollie felt quite unwell at this point but was determined to finish the shoot. Fighting through the cold and exhaustion she felt, Ollie managed to refocus to the extent that she maxed her score with the final two dozen arrows to set a new Club Record and take the Trophy.
Results Windsor Trophy: Compound- 1.P.Mumford 108/956/100, 2.R.Moore 108/954/99, 3.A.Westmorland 108/950/97pb, 4.J.Gough 107/909/82, 5.C.Graves 106/826/58. Recurve- 1.B.Harris 108/856/55pb, 2.J.Hill 108/828/53pb, 3.R.Mitchell 106/600/15pb. Short Windsor- 1.N.Kinrade 108/864/60 CRpb, 2.T.Ashton 108/826/41pb. Short Junior Windsor- O.Blockley 108/822/53CR,pb.
Isle of Man Archery Club 