The turnout at Onchan was low again with several of the usual suspects missing for a variety of reasons. The round of the day for the Seniors was the, mind-bending, Vegas, while the Juniors had the challenge of the Portsmouth 3 spot. Both rounds were shot as part of the Club’s Scratch League. As it was Remembrance Sunday proceedings were halted at 11am so that the two minute silence could be observed.
It was a hit and miss affair on Sunday, with the Gents Recurve being more miss than hit. The Vegas is essentially a WA 18 3 spot, made harder by arranging the faces in a triangle formation which has to be shot in order – lower left, upper centre, lower right. It is difficult enough to start with but after a while the mind starts to play tricks and the archer’s form can quickly go downhill, taking his score with it. With neither of the experienced Recurvers present, it was left to relative newcomers Ralf Mitchell, Chris Addy, Peter Howland and Simon Kenyon to fight for glory. It quickly became apparent that fight was going to be about having the fewest misses rather than having the most hits. Chris Addy got the ball rolling by missing with his first 9 arrows. Ralf notched up four misses in the first dozen, Simon three and Peter Howland two. Some advice from Club Coach Peter Mumford (along with a bit of adjustment to Chris’ sight) put him back on target. He seemed to have settled but another three misses just before the break with a further ten after the break put him firmly in last place. Simon Kenyon likewise seemed to have settled with his second dozen and was in the lead before having a string of misses either side of the break. Simon finished strongly but had to settle for third place. Both Ralf and Peter managed fifteen misses, but Peter was just that little bit better when the arrows did find their mark and he took the win.
Lone Lady Recurve Barbara Harris shot solidly for the most part, putting in a decent fourth dozen total of 110 before suddenly losing all form and missing three times in the last dozen to finish well down below her best score. Hers was the highest Recurve Vegas of the day, but that wasn’t much to boast about given the circumstances.
In the Compound division Pete Mumford was trying out a sight pin instead of using his usual sight ring, having discovered that the poor indoor lighting meant he could not see through the ring to the target and his arrows were going consistently low. The pin seemed to work better but Pete still felt he had work to do especially as he was pushed into second place by Andrew Westmorland who beat him by just 1 point. Cliff Graves had a miss and still seems to have issues with his release aid.
Lone Lady Compound Joy Gough was exasperated to find herself constantly hitting 9’s without being able to convert them to 10’s.
Barebow specialist Chris Crompton kept his arrows on target shooting a WA 18 and came up just one point short of the Club Record set by Alan Munro back in the mists of time. Chris had to settle for a pb with a score of 60/486/10.
Only two Juniors, James Hill and Jacob Brookes were available to shoot. James put in some excellent dozen totals before becoming too wrapped up in trying for a pb. This disrupted his timing and put a bit of a dent in his score. Jacob Brookes provided the high spot of the day by adding 14 points to his pb for the Portsmouth 3 spot. Jacob has improved week on week since the beginning of the Indoor season.
Results Vegas: Gents Recurve- 1.P.Howland 45/357/5, 2.R.Mitchell 45/341/3, 3.S.Kenyon 43/330/2, 4.C.Addy 38/290/7. Ladies Recurve- B.Harris 57/497/9. Gents Compound- 1.A.Westmorland 60/551/17, 2.P.Mumford 60/550/15, 3.C.Graves 59/525/14. Portsmouth 3 Spot- u18’s J.Hill 60/527/19. U16’s J.Brookes 60/525/14pb.
Isle of Man Archery Club 