A total of thirteen archers turned up over the course of Sunday to shoot a Worcester as part of the Club’s Scratch Leagues. The Worcester is unique in that arrows are shot in groups of five, the target has only five scoring zones (5,4,3,2,1) and is monochrome, although the white centre spot is still referred to as a gold. The highest score possible is 300, which has frequently been achieved by the Compound archers at the Club. Recurve archers shot on a single face – Compounds on a five spot.
Things got off to a shaky start for the Records Officer Barbara Harris, who was so tired that she stood on the wrong shooting line and had to be told twice by Joy Gough before the penny dropped and she moved back in to the correct place. Barbara was indeed wistfully thinking of the nice warm bed she had left and wishing she had stayed in it. Remarkably, given the fact she still had one foot in dreamland, Barbara not only shot the highest Recurve score of the day (beating the men as usual) but also produced a pb for the single face Worcester.
It was a three-horse race in the Gents Recurve with Simon Kenyon, Peter Howland and Ralf Mitchell aiming for the win. Both Peter Howland and Ralf Mitchell managed to keep their misses down to single digits, while Simon Kenyon didn’t have any at all, which was a vast improvement on last week. Simon led from start to finish and was never really under any pressure. Peter comfortably took second, which relegated Ralf to last place.
There were also three contenders in the Gents Compound: Pete Mumford, Andrew Westmorland and Cliff Graves. Pete was still having issues with his sight and felt that he was struggling all morning. Despite this he dropped only 8 points out of the possible 300 and was unlucky to come up against Andrew Westmorland who only dropped 4 points to take the win and give himself a new pb. Cliff Graves continued to make progress but had to settle for third.
Lone Lady Compounder Joy Gough was disgusted with herself for having a miss after she allowed her mind to wander and spoiled an otherwise decent mornings work.
Chris Crompton took on Colin Moore in the Barebow stakes. Colin was experimenting with his set up as he continued to try and recapture the form he showed a couple of seasons ago. Whatever Colin tried on Sunday did not work for him and Chris romped his way to victory.
Three Juniors also had a go, with Jacob Brookes muscling his way to victory, and a new personal best, in the u16 Boys. His opponent Nathan Kinrade was still trying to come to terms the heavier poundage of his new limbs. James Hill (u18’s) put in the highest Junior score of the day.
Results Worcester Scratch: Gents Recurve- 1.S.Kenyon 60/245/22, 2.P.Howland 58/227/19, 3.R.Mitchell 57/203/11. Ladies Recurve- B.Harris 60/278/41pb. Gents Compound- 1.A.Westmorland 60/296/56pb, 2.P.Mumford 60/292/52, 3.C.Graves 56/258/34. Ladies Compound- J.Gough 59/285/49. Gents Barebow- 1.C.Crompton 60/240/32, 2.C.Moore 52/165/6. U18 Boys- J.Hill 60/241/24. U16 Boys- 1.J.Brookes 60/237/15pb, 2.N.Kinrade 59/216/15.
Isle of Man Archery Club 