The first handicap round of the Indoor season took place on Sunday, with age groups and bow types shooting a Three-spot Portsmouth. The handicap round gives the archer a chance to see how well (or not) they are shooting. If an archer shoots to his handicap the “magic” tables will adjust the score to 1440; anything above or below this will give an indication of an archer’s current form. The system also allows all the archers to compete against one another on a level playing field.
There was a disappointingly low turnout for Sunday’s shoot with only a dozen archers making it to the venue, but those who did make it enjoyed a fierce competition as the vied for scratch honours. Rhys Moore continued his winning streak in the Gents Compound with a performance that not only gave him the scratch win over Pete Mumford but also secured second place overall. Pete Mumford shot solidly, never scoring less that a 9 with every arrow, but just could not hit enough 10’s to challenge Rhys who twice strayed out into the red. After the handicap was applied Pete still found himself a point behind Rhys and finishing in third place. Andy Westmorland added an excellent 35 points to his pb for the round but had to settle for a share of fifth place overall with Joy Gough. Colin Moore struggled to find the centre of the target. A lack of 10’s and a miss in the final dozen put him bottom of the Gents Compound in scratch terms but he finished in eighth place after handicapping.
In scratch terms Peter Howland and Simon Kenyon enjoyed a close battle in the Gents Recurve. An early miss by Simon handed Peter the lead which he held onto until the fourth dozen. Despite recording more misses that Peter, Simon found the centre of the target more often when he did get the shot right to take scratch honours by 6 points. In overall terms their relative positions remained the same with Simon finishing in tenth and Peter propping up the leader board in twelfth. Lone lady Recurve, Barbara Harris, recorded the highest recurve scratch score of the day despite opening with a miss but her lacklustre efforts were only good enough for ninth place overall.
The story of the day was proved by Chris Crompton. Chris, a barebow specialist – that is someone who shoots a recurve bow without the benefit of a sight or stabilizing system, attempted the round for the first time. His scratch total was the highest male non-compound score of the day and established a new Club Record into the bargain. Chris finished in seventh place after the handicap was applied.
Three Juniors also took part. James Hill was still someway off the form he showed earlier in the year and finished just above Peter Howland after handicapping. U16 Gents Jacob Brookes and Nathan Kinrade had a ding-dong battle in scratch terms. Nathan made a terrific start only to see Jacob peg him back to take the lead by a single point at the end of the third dozen. Nathan squeezed ahead again at the end of the fourth dozen and managed to hang on to the end to take the scratch honours. Both boys added 14 points to their respective pb’s but Jacob had the last laugh as he finished in top spot overall. Nathan shared third place alongside Pete Mumford.
Results Portsmouth 3 Spot Handicap: 1.J.Brookes 1514 (60/509/9)pb, 2.R.Moore 1435 (60/570/33, 3.N.Kinrade 1434 (59/511/8)pb, =3.P.Mumford 1434 (60/566/26, 5.J.Gough 1433 (60/552/17), =5A.Westmorland 1433 (60/548/12)pb, 7.C.Crompton 1429 (60/519/13)CR, 8.C.Moore 1412 (59/529/11, 9.B.Harris 1408 (59/535/18), 10.S.Kenyon 1407 (55/479/16)pb, 11.J.Hill 1402 (60/513/14), 12. P.Howland 1401 (57/473/8.
Isle of Man Archery Club 