The changes to TT practice meant that the IoM Archery Club lost an extra Sunday of competition and so the handful of archers who turned up at Greeba at the weekend were shooting for the first time in three weeks, and it showed. On top of a lack of practice the weather continued to be unkind; the only decent spell having occurred during TT practice week at which time the archers couldn’t shoot. It was blustery and humid. Temperatures varied wildly which had everyone putting on and taking off layers every 15 minutes or so. There was a general atmosphere of ‘getting through’ the shoot rather than looking to chase scores. The round of the day was a WA 720: a single distance event- 50m (80cm) for Compound, 50m (122cm) for Barebow and 70m (122cm) for Recurve.
A subdued Rhys Moore (feeling the after-effects of a virus) took on his Dad Dave Moore in the Gents Compound. Subdued or not Rhys romped to an easy victory, posting a score that was lighter on 10’s than usual but still 47 points better than his rival. If Dave had not had four misses, things would have been a lot closer.
The Moore’s were joined on the Compound boss by Joy Gough who had had a busy TT looking after guests. Joy was simply looking to get her archery muscles back in gear and had no expectations. She started well but like Rhys found 10’s hard to come by. A slow start after the break saw he scores dip below the 100 points an end required to break 600 and a miss with her second last arrow left her exasperated.
Alex Snell went up against Peter Howland and junior archer Nathan Kinrade in the Gents Recurve. Alex, who had been cross training during TT to maintain his fitness levels, shot steadily over the morning before a strong finish saw him become the only Recurver to break 500 that day. Nathan, shooting in the afternoon, had the worst of the weather as the difficult wind conditions were added to by a sudden shower of rain. He posted a reasonable score, all things considered to slot into second place ahead of Peter Howland who had a nightmare of a morning.
Barbara Harris, who was under orders from David (Darth) Moore to get some practice in ahead of an off-island competition July, would much rather have not bothered. Her shooting was consistent and after 4 dozen was slightly ahead of Alex Snell, but fatigue hit at the beginning of the fifth and her form and scores started to dip. A miss with one of her last arrows left Barbara without even the consolation of having kept them all on target. Having been told she must shoot for the whole day, Barbara tried not to be a resentful little Stormtrooper as Darth Moore packed up and went home at lunchtime. She also tried not to feel resentful when she knew Darth was safely in his new polytunnel tending his tomatoes while she was getting rained on. Needless to say, as with much else she has attempted in life, she failed.
Pete Mumford had a nice time playing at Barebow on the large target face at 50m. Pete was delighted with his progress over the morning, producing a solid display with every arrow, including sighters, finding the target.
Junior archer Erin Hainge seemed undaunted by the weather and posted an excellent score for the Short Metric III (30/20m) she shot in the afternoon session.
James Hill, who had a new bow to break in elected to shoot a Short Metric round (50/30) to get a feel for the bow. He was joined by the irrepressible Ralph Mitchell, who wisely decided (given his level ability) not to attempt the 720.
Results WA720: Gents Compound- 1.R.Moore 72/649/24/9, 2.D.Moore 68/602/19/10. Ladies Compound- J.Gough 71/582/11/6. Gents Recurve- 1.A.Snell 72/517/6/1, 2.N.Kinrade 58/346/2/0, 3.P.Howland 58/293/0/0. Ladies Recurve- B.Harris 71/473/1/0. Gents Barebow- P.Mumford 72/454/2/0. Junior Girls Short Metric III- E.Hainge 72/566/11/1.
Isle of Man Archery Club 