An even dozen archers turned up to try their hand at a Worcester on Sunday. The Worcester is unusual in that it is a black and white target with only five scoring zones- 5 down to 1. Arrows are shot in groups of five (rather then the normal three for Indoor rounds) and the maximum score is 300. Compound archers shot on a five-spot target, all other types using a single face.
Rhys Moore’s biggest problem with the Worcester is boredom, in that he has frequently shot a maximum score for the round and so tends to lose interest at some point and strays slightly from the centre. On Sunday he managed to maintain his concentration until the thirty-ninth arrow before dropping a point. Rhys’s tut of derision was like a pistol crack in an otherwise silent room which startled some of the older membership. Rhys dropped just one more point in the course of the morning to notched up yet another victory. The fight for second took place between John Angiolini, Cliff Graves and, returning to Compound after a lengthy liaison with Barebow, Colin Moore. Colin was breaking in a new string and was still feeling the after effects of a chest infection so had no expectations. He did get out of shape a couple of times causing the string to hit his arm, the air to turn blue and the arrow to miss the target. The rest of the time Colin was centre mad and came away happy with his score which put him in fourth place. Pete Mumford and Cliff Graves dropped just five points a piece to tie in second place and John Angiolini had to settle for fifth.
Joy Gough made it to the half way point in the Ladies Compound division before the pain of her recurrent shoulder injury forced her to stop. This left Rose Sandilands on her own to take the win.
Peter Howland cut a lonely figure in the Gents Recurve as numbers in that discipline continue to decline. Peter kept all of his arrows on target and looks set to make a clean sweep of this season’s Trophies if the current levels of apathy among the rest of the Recurve membership continue.
Barbara Harris managed to find her way to Onchan for the second week in a row. She shot surprisingly well given her lack of practice and a shoulder injury and came within 8 points of her pb. Once again she recorded the highest Recurve score of the day. Newcomer Sarah Kennedy was also in action shooting the Worcester for the first time. Having previously shot two Portsmouth rounds, the Worcester target looks very small at the end of the hall. Sarah had a handful of misses but recorded a pb nevertheless and by completing this third round she can now be given a handicap.
Chris Crompton outclassed the rest of the field in the Gents Barebow to take the win. Pete Mumford slotted into second place after switching disciplines for the afternoon session. Dave Moore had a handful of misses at the beginning of the round which cost him, and he had to settle for third. Stan Gorry seemed to have another off day. He only missed once but he just couldn’t find the centre the rest of the time and he had to settle for fourth.
Results Worcester: Gents Compound- 1.R.Moore 60/298/58, 2.Cliff Graves 60/295/55, =2.P.Mumford 60/295/55, 4.C.Moore 58/283/51, 5.J.Angiolini 60/275/36. Ladies Compound- R.Sandilands 60/280/43. Gents Recurve- P.Howland 60/236/13. Ladies Recurve- 1.B.Harris 60/272/36, 2.S.Kennedy 55/151/5pb. Gents Barebow- 1.C.Crompton 60/243/19, 2.P.Mumford 58/218/17, 3.D.Moore 56/209/15, 4.S.Gorry 59/192/4.
Isle of Man Archery Club 