On Sunday the Club shot another of their annual trophy rounds at Greeba in great weather. This time it was for the Windsor trophy which is shot over 9 dozen arrows shot at distances of 60yds, 50yds and 40yds, 3 dozen at each distance.
Setting up the field was relatively easy with everyone electing to shoot the same distances irrespective of bow type or age group including junior archer Erin Hainge who joined in with the seniors although this meant she shot two distances above her required age group and had to aim at the flag on the top of the boss in order to achieve the longest distance. She really entered into the spirit of the event and even turned up in her new “elf” hat. It was good to see Danny Cowin back with his newly adjusted bow, and it was also nice to welcome both Jonathan Gordon and Bill Callow to the shooting line for their first outdoor competition this season.
The largest group were the Recurve archers this week with six archers in contention for the trophy . As everyone shoots the same distance both ladies and gents are in direct competition. James Hill continued his good shooting form and went into an early lead and by the end of the first distance was 32 points ahead of Charlotte George, who was just 4 points ahead of Danny Cowin. This pattern continued throughout the whole shoot with James continuing to pull ahead finishing 46 points ahead of the field and claiming the trophy for this year.
With the Moore boys absent on Royal Show duty this week, and Aalin George off Island, the Compound competition was a straight fight between partners Peter Mumford and Joy Gough. Peter adopted his usual relaxed shoot mode and galloped ahead from start to finish, his good mood no doubt bolstered by the thought of his new bow waiting to be set up back at home. Joy was just pleased to finish the round using a back tension release for the first time in a competition outdoors.
Three Barebow archers and one Traditional bow archer also took to the shooting line. Ralf Mitchell was horrified to find out that, after offering to score for the three archers on his boss, the scoring system for this round follows the format of 9, 7, 5, 3, and 1 so he had to put his maths skills to the test. With Colin Moore at home recovering from his birthday celebrations, it was Chris Crompton who showed Stan and Ralf how to do it with a barebow and finished a whopping 130 points ahead. Bill Callow kept them company but shooting his traditional bow using wooden arrows and finishing with a great score to gain his first outdoor target archery trophy.
Erin Hainge not only claimed the Junior Windsor trophy but also managed to finish 5th in the senior shoot – a great young competitor and definitely one to be watched.
Scores: James Hill 108/902/78, Charlotte George 108/856/59, Danny Cowin 108/836/54, Jonathan Gordon 108/796/46, Erin Hainge 103/691/31, Peter Howland 108/674/24, Peter Mumford 108/938/93, Joy Gough 108/894/72, Chris Crompton 107/769/39, Stan Gorry 99/504/6, Ralf Mitchell 79/339/6, Bill Callow 99/551/12
Isle of Man Archery Club 