Sunday saw a ‘double header’ at Greeba with two different rounds being shot across the day. The morning session was given over to the “We don’t shoot that!” round, an obscure round rarely shot at the Club and chosen at random by the Records Officer. While the afternoon was given over to the actual round of the day – The Nev Mason Long Haul. At stake arguably the best Trophy at the Club – a handmade miniature Longbow complete with quiver and a set of arrows.
The morning was overcast and a little on the chilly side, but seven archers made it to the field to compete in the “We don’t shoot that!” round which this year was an Albion – three dozen arrows shot at each of three distances: 80,60 and 50 yards. It is actually a three-quarter day round, but the Records Officer cracked the whip and insisted it be completed in a single morning. The Gents Compound was once again a face- off between father and son Dave and Rhys Moore. Neither man had shot the round before so whatever they shot would be a pb. Rhys continued his impressive run of form by dropping only 10 points out of the available 972 on his way to victory, and Dave had to settle for second place yet again. In the Ladies Compound division Joy Gough was on course to shoot a pb but had a miss with her very last arrow which dropped her 8 points short.
James Hill was the only entrant in the Gents Recurve, but he did himself proud by adding 32 points to his pb for the round. Barbara Harris the only Lady Recurve had a couple of misses early on before she realized she was shooting with a duff arrow. After she swapped the bent arrow out her scores improved and she managed to record a new pb.
The Barebow division saw Pete Mumford take on, the ever improving, Stan Gorry. Stan was shooting the round for the first time and had absolutely no experience of the 80 yards distance. It took Stan half a dozen arrows to find his range. After a dozen arrows, he was 20 points down, but by the end of the first distance he was only 2 points behind. At the end of the second distance, it was Stan’s turn to be 20 points ahead. Pete did his best to come back at him, but Stan remained solid to not only take the win but to break the old Club record of 440 previously held by Pete Mumford – a double whammy.
The real business of the day took place in the afternoon session with the final Trophy shoot of the season – the Nev Mason Long Haul. This was devised by Nev to test the barebow abilities of the Club’s archers and to bring them together to indulge in a spot of sociable ‘unsportsmanship’ whereby putting off the opposition is actively encouraged. The Long Haul is shot over yards (60 & 40) but uses metric scoring (10 down to 1). No shooting aids are allowed – no clickers, sights, long or side rods, no dampers or weights and the entrants are roughly divided between those who have a chance of winning: Pete Mumford and Dave Moore and those who are desperately trying not to come last: Rhys Moore and Barbara Harris, with everyone else coming somewhere in the middle.
The reigning champion Ralf Mitchell had sneaked in under the radar the previous year escaping any barracking to lift the trophy. He was afforded the levels of abuse this season that were a champion’s due, and while he recorded a pb for the round he had to settle for third place this time. Stan Gorry decided to change to his wooden bow in place of the metal one he had shot in the morning and then had to borrow some arrows as the nocks of the set he had with him were too tight on the string. Shooting a different bow, with strange arrows had a negative impact on Stan’s chances and he finished fourth. Nathan Kinrade, still under 16 and entitled to shoot in the junior version, the Short Haul, elected instead to tackle to Long Haul for the first time. He was not overawed by the occasion or the banter and finished a comfortable fifth. Peter Howland had a brilliant start and was leading the pack after the first six arrows. The next six however were indication of what was to come; Peter dropped from first to third and gradually slid down the leader board till he came to rest in sixth place.
Rhys Moore and Barbara Harris resumed their private war to avoid the wooden spoon. Barbara has never found her range over 60 yards and this season was no better, out of 36 arrows she managed to get only 12 to hit the target. Luckily for her, Rhys was just as bad and at the halfway stage he was only 2 points ahead. In previous years Barbara had been quite comfortable at 40 yards and indeed had shot well over that distance in practice earlier in the week. An excellent start (by her standards, which are not high) put her 19 points ahead of Rhys but then she couldn’t quite back it up and Rhys began to take points out of her with every end. Happily for Harris Rhys ran out of arrows before he could overhaul her and Barbara avoided last place by 11 points.
At the sharp end Dave Moore and Pete Mumford, both champions of previous years, were duking it out for the Trophy. Dave Moore had had little or no practice at barebow this season, while Pete had switched from Compound to exclusively shoot barebow for the last couple of months. This Pete claimed was solely to help Stan train for the Euronations competition at the end of August and the fact that he had practiced the Long Haul distances on several occasions was merely a coincidence. No one actually believed this line of guff, and Pete was odds on to win. Dave Moore was determined to derail him if he could. After the first dozen with Dave just 1 point behind Pete it looked as though he might have a chance but by the end of the first distance Pete had a 49 point lead. Dave did claw a few points back over the second distance, but Pete finished 35 points ahead to lift the coveted Trophy.
Simultaneously, the junior Short Haul (30 & 10yds) took place, again for a splendid trophy specially commissioned by Denyse Hill. It was a straight head-to-head between Eloise Kinrade and Ellyn Hill, both of whom were taking part for the first time and whose barebow form put the adults to shame. Ellyn had the best of the encounter and was the only person on the day to keep all of her arrows on target and kept needling Pete Mumford between ends on how much better she was relatively speaking than him. Eloise also shot well but had to settle for second place this time round. All in all a great deal of fun was had and the event was a fitting tribute to Nev.
Results- Albion: Gents Compound 1.R.Moore 108/962/93pb, 2.D.Moore 108/920/85pb. Ladies Compound J.Gough 107/892/72. Gents Recurve J.Hill 108/680/19pb. Ladies Recurve B.Harris 106/814/55pb. Gents Barebow 1.S.Gorry 93/455/11NCR, 2.P.Mumford 94/431/6.
Nev Mason Long Haul- 1.P.Mumford 71/507/5/2, 2.D.Moore 71/472/6/1, 3.R.Mitchell 63/334/6/0pb, 4.S.Gorry 57/324/1/0pb, 5.N.Kinrade 57/295/3/2pb, 6.P.Howland 44/194/0/0pb, 7.B.Harris 33/121/0/0, 8.R.Moore 29/110/0/0. Denyse Hill Short Haul- 1.E.Hill 72/534/14/4pb, 2.E.Kinrade 63/362/0/0pb.
Isle of Man Archery Club 