For the first time this season, Greeba was treated to some decent weather, and it coincided with the Senior Club Championships. The Compound and Recurve archers battled it out over the entire day in WA 1440, whilst the Barebow archers tackled a single distance WA 122-50 to decide their fate.
The warm, calm conditions seemed to promise high scores but only one archer really took advantage of them and that was Rhys Moore. Up against Andrew Westmorland, making a return to archery after hip replacement surgery, and Dave Moore in the Gents Compound, Rhys romped home to an easy victory. He led from start to finish. Never at any point under pressure, Rhys comfortably broke the 1300 barrier to finish 68 points ahead of his nearest rival. Dave Moore, disgusted with a miss at 50m, slotted into second place 59 points ahead of an out of practice Andy Westmorland.
Amazingly, Danny Cowin not only showed up for the Championships, but beat the Records Officer to the field. Barbara Harris, held up by Sunday drivers, arrived so late that many thought she wasn’t going to bother at all. She was not however, as tardy as Alex Allen-Snell who has turned being fashionably late into an art form. Alex joined Danny and James Hill on the shooting line in the Gents Recurve as odds on favourite. While fatherhood had restricted shooting time for Alex, he had been able to do fitness training to maintain his core and it showed on Sunday. James Hill was still trying to come to terms with his new bow and Danny was trying to come to terms with being somewhere other than the pub during opening hours. Alex started well and had an almost unassailable lead by the end of the first distance. Danny managed to hold off James over the first distance but shooting for just the fourth time in a year, Danny was a tad under-rehearsed, and James soon pulled away from him. To give credit to Danny, he never lost his sense of humour, and he quietly coached James through the afternoon helping him to a strong finish at 30m. By the end of the day Alex had retained his title finishing 195 points ahead of James, who in turn finished 123 points ahead of Danny.
As usual Joy Gough and Barbara Harris partnered each other as each was the sole entrant in their respective discipline. They both found the day to be an absolute grind. Barbara couldn’t find any rhythm and was glad when the shoot was over. Joy grimly stuck at it determined to get something out of the shoot. She was rewarded with an excellent end at the 50m which gave her a much needed boost, and a strong finish in the last dozen of the day saw her break her, self-imposed, target of 1200.
On the Barebow front, Pete Mumford, Stan Gorry and Colin Moore all made a bid for glory. After the first dozen it looked as though the fight would be between Colin and Stan, while Pete languished in third. Stan then had an appalling second dozen from which he never recovered. Pete began to find his stride, but Colin was a model of consistency, and his victory was well deserved.
Results Senior Championships: Gents Compound- 1.R.Moore 144/1319/57/16, 2.D.Moore 143/1251/42/14, 3.A.Westmorland 142/1192/34/15. Ladies Compound – J.Gough 144/1201/24/7. Gents Recurve- 1.A.Allen-Snell 141/1099/16/6, 2.J.Hill 139/904/7/2, 3.D.Cowin 130/781/5/2. Ladies Recurve- B.Harris 135/974/14/4. Gents Barebow- 1.C.Moore 72/488/3/-, 2.P.Mumford 69/408/4/2, 3.S.Gorry 63/306/1/-.
Isle of Man Archery Club 