Changeable was the word of the day on Sunday, which encompassed both the weather and the form of some of the archers. Since the majority of the competition at the Island Games will be based on the WA 720, that was the round of the day. The Compounds shot at 50m, the Recurves at 70m. Erin Hainge shot the u14 distance of 40m.
Danny Cowin, Alex Allen Snell and Barbara Harris tried to put into practice what they had learned over the coaching weekend. Alex certainly succeeded, Barbara and Danny not so much. At first Barbara was staying in touch with Alex even with a miss early on, but as the misses mounted up and Barbara struggled with fatigue and an ongoing neck injury her scores began to dip. The fact that she finished with a season’s best score was of little consolation. Alex was the clear winner, finishing some 50 points ahead of Barbara, who just managed to hold off a lack lustre Danny Cowin.
One the Compound side of things Pete Mumford was finally up to speed enough to compete in the 50m round alongside Joy Gough and Dave and Rhys Moore. Rhys notched up another victory, but he hit too many 8’s to be happy with his performance. A miss from Dave did nothing to improve his temper on a day where one could choose to get wet from the rain, or steam inside waterproofs due to the high humidity. He finished up in second, some 40 points off the pace. Pete Mumford had a terrific opening six arrows but then tailed off almost immediately. He kept all his arrows on target, but his dozen totals were at the lower end of what he would like. Joy Gough was exasperated with a miss she had just before halfway but managed to put in a season’s best score, nonetheless.
Erin Hainge didn’t manage to break any records this week but she did hit a six gold end for which she can claim a badge. Erin actually accomplished this feat last season, but the Records Officer forgot to deal with it. This time round it wasn’t missed.
It was lovely to see Colin Moore back in action with his Barebow on Sunday after an enforced layoff due to an elbow injury. He tackled a 122-30m just to test his fitness and came through with flying colours, producing a personal best score that fell just short of the 600 barrier.
Results WA 720: Recurve 1.A.Allen-Snell 72/539/3/1, 2.B.Harris 69/479/4/1, 3.D.Cowin 72/473/3/-. Compound 1.R.Moore 72/681/39/17, 2.D.Moore 71/643/30/9, 3.P.Mumford 72/614/16/4, 4.J.Gough 71/588/14/5. U14’s 122-40m – E.Hainge 72/573/14/4. Barebow 122-30m – C.Moore 72/594/5/-pb.
Isle of Man Archery Club 