With a shortage in variety of target faces, it was back to a Portsmouth round on Sunday. The usual suspects turned up, with the addition of Barebow specialist Chris Crompton and Tradbow aficionado Laura Forrest.
Colin Moore and Stan Gorry went head-to head in the Gents Tradbow Division. Colin had ironed out his problems of the previous week and got off to a good start, but Stan was always snapping at his heels. By the half-way stage Colin was 6 points ahead. Stan closed the gap to 4 points by the end of the third dozen, only to see Colin pull ahead again. Stan suddenly found his range and put in his best 6 arrow total of the day. Simultaneously Colin put in his worst and for the first time that morning Stan took the lead. Out of nowhere Colin put an arrow wide of the target and then followed it up with another miss a couple of arrows later. Stan began to hit the Gold; a wayward arrow landing in the 2 prevented him from breaking 400 but he still took the win, to his delight and Colin’s chagrin.
In the Recurve department Danny Cowin was technically up against Peter Howland, while Barbara Harris was taking on Sarah Kennedy. However, Danny and Barbara were on the same boss and so they spent their time taking the micky out of each other. Both Danny and Barbara were using borrowed limbs, Danny’s were heavier than the ones he had borrowed the week before and the ones Barbara was using were longer than her usual ones which made the bow taller than her. The difference in weight seemed to make little difference to Danny, and his old form began to return. For the first time in years, he stopped growling and enjoyed himself. He was absolutely delighted to beat Harris, if only by a point and Harris in turn was delighted for Sarah Kennedy who also beat her by a point on the way to a pb. The highest Recurve score of the day went to Junior archer Erin Hainge who also recorded a pb as well as showing the adults how it’s done.
Chris Crompton was on excellent form in the Gents Barebow where he broke 500 to take a easy victory over an under-the-weather Pete Mumford.
Laura Forrest just missed out on breaking 400 with her Tradbow. Joy Gough’s hard work with the back tension release began to pay off in the Ladies Compound, with all of her arrows finding their mark.
Rhys Moore managed to keep track of his car keys this week and make it to Onchan where he put in a score that was reasonable enough to keep him happy.
Results Portsmouth: Gents Tradbow- 1.S.Gorry 60/394/2, 2.C.Moore 58/380/2. Gents Recurve- 1.D.Cowin 60/515/14, 2.P.Howland 60/494/8. Ladies Recurve- 1.S.Kennedy 60/515/17pb, 2.B.Harris 60/514/11. Junior Ladies Recurve- E.Hainge 60/522/17pb. Gents Barebow- 1.C.Crompton 60/519/15, 2.P.Mumford 59/476/8. Ladies Tradbow- L.Forrest 59/399/7. Ladies Compound- J.Gough 60/534/10. Gents Compound- R.Moore 60/573/33.
Isle of Man Archery Club 