The main action took place off island last weekend as Junior Club member Erin Hainge travelled to Stoneleigh to take part in the National Indoor Championships. Erin had taken first place for her age group in every UK competition she had entered so far but the Indoor National Championships was the biggest stage yet. Shooting in the morning session of the u14 Women’s Recurve, Erin posted a score of 60/530/21 for the Portsmouth round the Championships are based on. In no way fazed by the size of the venue or the calibre of the opposition, Erin found the hardest part was watching the second detail shoot the afternoon session and waiting to see if her score was overhauled. A tense couple of hours ended in relief and triumph as Erin added the title of u14 Women’s Indoor National Champion to her list of accomplishments. A tremendous feat given that this time last year Erin hadn’t even picked up a bow. Her dedication, cheerfulness and down to earth attitude to her sport mark her out as a true champion and an ambassador for both the Club and the Isle of Man.
On home soil a dozen archers turned up at Onchan to shoot a Worcester round. The Worcester comprises 60 arrows shot in groups of 5 on a black and white target which scores from 5 down to 1. In the Gents Recurve Danny Cowin took on Ralf Mitchell, Peter Howland, Nathan Kinrade and newcomer Liam Keary. Having wound a little weight off his bow Danny exhibited better control and put in a consistent performance to take the win. Junior archer Nathan Kinrade just held off senior Peter Howland to take second place. Ralf Mitchell slotted into fourth and Liam Keary came fifth. Liam needs just one more round to get his handicap.
A tired and rather out of sorts Barbara Harris posted the highest Recurve score of the day but was glad when the shoot was over.
Pete Mumford and Colin Moore went head to head in the Gents Barebow. Peter had a slow start, but Colin hit the ground running and led from start to finish to take the win by a comfortable margin.
Stan Gorry had a nightmare of a shoot in the Gents Tradbow. A good opening end was undermined by three misses in the next 10 arrows. Stan’s luck went from bad to worse as he then damaged the nocks on three of his arrows rendering them useless and leaving him with only four useable arrows when he needed five. He shot the next end using a set of borrowed arrows that clearly were not in tune with his bow and missed with three of them. Stan then elected to shoot a mixed bag (or quiver) for the rest of the shoot – four of his own and one borrowed- which limited the damage. Stan shrugged off his dreadful score and hoped for better things on Tuesday night.
Joy Gough and Cliff Graves were the only Compounds in action on Sunday. Joy had a good morning dropping just 15 points, while Cliff did even better, losing just 7 points over the course of the afternoon session.
A clutch of misses put a dent in Eloise Kinrade’s score but she is working hard on her form.
Results Worcester: Gents Recurve- 1.D.Cowin 60/250/19, 2.N.Kinrade 60/247/26, 3.P.Howland 60/246/24, 4.R.Mitchell 60/219/13, 5.L.Keary 46/128/3. Ladies Recurve- B.Harris 60/259/26. Gents Barebow- 1.C.Moore 60/224/11, 2.P.Mumford 59/193/10. Gents Tradbow- S.Gorry 52/150/6. Ladies Compound- J.Gough 60/285/45. Gents Compound- C.Graves 60/293/53. Junior Ladies- E.Kinrade 51/138/5.
Isle of Man Archery Club 