It was another warm day at Greeba but this week there was a tricky wind to handle which swirled around the bosses causing a few problems. The round of the day was a WA 720. 72 arrows shot at a single distance: 70m for Recurve, 50m for Compound and Barebows.
With Rhys Moore off the island, there was an opportunity for one of the other Compounds to get a taste of glory. Not so much a changing of the guard as a ‘while the cat’s away the mice will play’ scenario. Dave Moore, Chris Crompton, Pete Mumford and Andrew Westmorland were all keen to take advantage of the maestro’s absence. Pete was so full of ‘youthful exuberance’ that he got up to shoot twice in the same end while everyone else was heading off to collect their arrows and subsequently ended up at the boss minus the scoresheets. Dave Moore kindly wrote them down on the bottom of his scoresheet so that Pete could copy them in back on the line. Unfortunately, Pete’s keenness did not payoff. A few too many loose shots and a miss after the break when the wind was at its worse dropped him down into fourth place. Chris Crompton, in his first Outdoor season as a Compound shooter, put in a solid round to take third but the real fight was between Dave Moore and Andrew Westmorland. Westy struggled with his anchor point (the place at which the hand touches the face) throughout the shoot, but a miss early on by Dave allowed Westy to take a 1 point lead going into the break. Thereafter he was just that bit more consistent and finished 20 points ahead to take his first win of the season.
For once Aalin George had an opponent in the Ladies Compound in the form of Marie Hainge, who was making her debut in competition. It was too much to expect Marie to put any pressure on her experienced counterpart and Aalin romped to victory over 200 points ahead of her. Marie had to settle for a pb and a solid start to her archery career.
Peter Howland, Richard Hainge, David Craine and Danny Cowin took to the line in the Gents Recurve. David was at a disadvantage shooting with aluminium arrows which were more affected by the windy conditions and had to settle for fourth place. Peter Howland was just to inconsistent to mount a challenge and the battle for first lay between Danny and Richard. Over the first two and half dozen it looked to be going Danny’s way as he opened up a 20 point lead. Unfortunately, his last six arrows drifted left just as Richard really found his range and Danny suddenly found himself 3 points behind going into the break. Danny settled down again after the break to re-take the lead only have his form dessert him again at the end of the second dozen. By that time Richard was dialled in and he went on the break the 500 barrier to earn himself a pb and the win into the bargain.
It was the usual head-to-head standoff between Barbara Harris and Charlotte George in the Ladies Recurve. Barbara was using new arrows with a stiffer spine, and she finally showed a bit of form after a dismal couple of years. A slow start put victory out of her reach but she out shot Charlotte with the last dozen arrows before the break, an occurrence that happens about as often as the Manxman putting to sea in anything above a stiff breeze. Sadly, Barbara fell pray to hunting a score instead of concentrating on executing the shot and the misses began to creep in. Charlotte remained her usual focused self and motored home to victory.
In the Gents Barebow Colin Moore showed his class to take victory 208 points ahead of Pete Mumford, who switched discipline for the afternoon session. Ralf Mitchell, who seems to have lost his way on what he likes to call his ‘archery journey’, only managed to keep half his arrows on target. Perhaps some kind soul will draw him a map.
Junior archer Erin Hainge shot a 40m 720 in the morning session and 50m one in the afternoon. The second distance is the one she will be shooting in the Youth Games later this year.
Results WA 720: Gents Compound-1.A.Westmorland 72/635/18/10pb, 2.D.Moore 71/615/16/5, 3.C.Crompton 71/586/10/1pb, 4.P.Mumford 70/556/8/0. Ladies Compound-1.A.George 72/622/21/7, 2.M.Hainge 55/401/5/1. Gents Recurve-1.R.Hainge 71/507/6/1, 2.D.Cowin 72/486/5/2, 3.P.Howland 68/389/3/0, 4.D.Craine 35/171/2/1. Ladies Recurve-1.C.George 72/522/3/2, 2.B.Harris 69/469/3/1. Gents Barebow-1.C.Moore 72/502/6/0, 2.P.Mumford 58/294/0/0, 3.R.Mitchell 39/168/1/0. U15’s-E.Hainge 72/589/14/6 (40m) & 71/531/6/1 (50m)
Isle of Man Archery Club 