The final month of the Outdoor season got underway with the annual York/Hereford shoot. These are National rounds – shot over yards rather than metres, using five zone scoring 9,7,5,3,1. Comprising of 100yds/80yds and 60yds for the Gents (the York) and 80/60/50yds for the Ladies (the Hereford), with six dozen arrows at the first distance, 4 dozen at the second and only 2 dozen at the third. The rounds used to be shot regularly at the Club, two a month, but as competitions in the UK gradually switched over to Metric rounds (and the Club members hated shooting them) they were felt to be rather redundant, and the Records Officer minimized the agony by making it an annual Trophy shoot.
The weather forecast for Sunday had not been good with heavy winds and rain predicted but by Friday the forecast had changed, and the day turned out dry though a little cool. Winds were light but blustery enough to cause problems at the longer distances. In the Gents compound division Rhys Moore was looking to retain the Trophy he has held since its inception at the Club. In fact, winning the York would give Rhys a clean sweep of the Outdoor Trophies having already taken the Club Championship and, for the first time ever, the Windsor Trophy. The only person standing in his way was his father, Dave. Well, more hobbling in his way as Dave had picked up an injury that meant he had to wear a knee brace. It turned out to be a one sided affair with Rhys opening up a 26 point advantage after just twelve arrows. A slightly dodgy fourth dozen allowed Dave to pull back a couple of points but Rhys refocused and was 48 points ahead by the end of the morning. Dave then outshot Rhys over the second distance, reducing the deficit to a mere 40 points. Rhys then put the cap on it by dropping only 2 points at the final distance to take victory by a 46 point margin.
Things were much closer in the Gents Recurve which was a straight face off between defending champion Danny Cowin and York debutante James Hill. At the somewhat error strewn first distance it was James who made the slightly better start, taking a 3 point advantage after the first dozen. This doubled to 6 points by the end of the second, before Danny closed him down and they were all square. A horrendous dozen by Danny allowed James to jump 25 points ahead before Danny found a bit of form and reduced the deficit back down to 3 points again. Much happier at 80 yards, it was Danny who had the better start after lunch, and he went into the lead for the first time that day. James steadied himself to level things up before once again going into the lead – and so it went on. Going into the final dozen Danny was 2 points ahead. With six arrows to go they were all square again. With two arrows to go Danny was again 2 points up when, out of nowhere, he missed. Danny was gobsmacked but a nine would still give him the win. He drew back, loosed…and put it in the three! James Hill had won his first ever Senior Trophy.
In the Compound Hereford Joy Gough struggled to find her range at 80yards and her opening dozen at 60 was very poor by her standards. As the only entrant Joy was obviously going to retain the Trophy but the point of shooting is to do it properly. Annoyed with herself Joy refocused, found her form, and finished well. In the Recurve version Barbara Harris was so devoid of motivation that she forgot to put her name on the score sheet. She amused herself by being more than usually sarcastic and made it through the grind of the morning. Barbara was doing well at the second distance before she collapsed on a shot and recorded a miss. As usual she struggled with the shortest distance and was relieved when it was all over. It came as something of a surprise then to discover later that she had shot a pb for the round as well as retaining the Trophy.
For the first time the Barebow Bristol 1 Trophy was shot. It had only one entrant Pete Mumford but with Barebow archers outnumbering full on Recurve archers at the Club 2 to 1 it may well have a larger field next year. Pete had never shot the Bristol 1 (same as a Hereford but rebranded when men shoot it) using a Barebow before so he too had a personal best and a bottle of Harvey’s Bristol Cream to look forward to at the awards ceremony later in the year.
The Juniors were also in action with Nathan Kinrade going up against Ellyn Hill for the Bristol Plate. The Juniors were effectively handicapped by age with Nathan shooting a Bristol II (60/50/40yds) and Ellyn a Bristol V (30/20/10). Ellyn was shooting a full day’s round for the first time having only completed the beginners course this season. She and Nathen were neck and neck until fatigue and pain took its toll on her and she slipped 55 points behind. It looked as though she might not be able to continue but a bit of rest during lunch and a strip of KT tape giving support to her sore wrist allowed Ellyn not only to continue but to do so in style. At the final distance she dropped only 8 points to post an u12 Ladies Club Record. It also looked as though she had finished a brave second until the Records Officer, whose job it is to verify everyone’s score, discovered that Nathan had made a mistake with his addition at the end of the eighth dozen. Instead of losing by 40 points Ellyn had won the Bristol Plate by 10 points.
Those unable to attend a full day’s shoot to part in various National Rounds. Stan Gorry took the Barebow National Trophy, while Eloise Kinrade lost by just 4 points to Jacob Brookes who took the Junior National Trophy. (Again the Juniors were effectively handicapped by age).
Also shooting were Ralf Mitchell (Bristol 1 Recurve) and Lucy-may Hill (Short Jun Warwick).
Results: Compound York- 1.R.Moore 144/1232/112, 2.D.Moore 144/1186/101. Recurve York- 1.J.Hill 131/765/21pb, 2.D.Cowin 132/763/25. Compound Hereford- J. Gough 144/1170/89. Recurve Hereford- B.Harris 143/1021/49pb. Barebow Bristol 1- P.Mumford 131/685/21pb. Bristol Plate- 1.E.Hill 142/996/55NCR, 2. N.Kinrade 142/986/38. National Barebow- S.Gorry 59/332/8. Junior National- 1.J.Brookes 72/466/18pb, 2.E.Kinrade 72/ 462/23pb.
Isle of Man Archery Club 