With the York/Hereford and Windsor Trophies up for grabs in the coming weeks it was time to practice some National rounds at Greeba. National rounds are shot over distances measured in yards rather than metres and have Five zone scoring, that is 9/7/5/3/1. This also gave Erin Hainge the opportunity to get comfortable with the regime ahead of the Junior National Championships at Lilleshall while the ultra-senior trio of Stan Gorry, Pete Mumford and David Craine could get round one of the Morecombe Bay Masters Postal Event under their belts.
The previous Sunday had been glorious but conditions this time round were grim. Hypothermia was a real threat and finding the balance between putting on enough layers while still being able to shoot was as much of a challenge as the wind. The morning session was characterized by gusting winds at the bosses which played havoc with arrows coming out of the Recurve and Barebows. The more powerful Compounds had an easier time of it but fun it was not.
Recurvers Richard Hainge and Barbara Harris were joined in a Long National round (80 & 60 yards) by Andrew Westmorland, who cheerfully pointed out that the Records Officer had been mis-spelling his knickname for the last five years. That it was Westy with a ‘Y’ not Westie ‘IE’. Either he had not bothered to read her columns before (unlikely) or he was too scared to tell her sooner (probable). Neither Westy nor Richard had shot the round before and so were rewarded with personal best score for their efforts. Harris had shot the round back in the mists of time and fell well short of her best.
The remaining archers shot a National round (60 & 50 yards). Colin Moore took the Barebow honours over Stan Gorry but was much too young to be included in the postal competition. Pete Mumford performed well under the difficult conditions to take the win in Gents Compound division unopposed. Marie Hainge, without the benefit of sight marks, managed to keep all of her arrows on target as she too triumphed over the conditions if nothing else. She posted an excellent personal best score well in excess of the 500 mark. David Craine turned up so late that he missed the sighters and had to launch straight into the round proper but still managed to record a decent score. The contingent kept themselves going with the promise that conditions were set to improve during the afternoon. Those who stayed on wished they had packed up at lunchtime. The sun did indeed come out during the afternoon session, the light rain showers disappeared, and the wind shifted. It moved from the bosses to the shooting line, where it battered the archers instead of the targets! At one point the suggestion was made that the conditions were ‘unshootable’ but juniors members Brand Gough (Compound), Ethan Corran (Recurve) and Lula Brown (Recurve) who had joined Erin Hainge in Short National (50 & 40yds) were having none of it and saw the round out to its conclusion.
The afternoon was enlivened by the escape of a small herd of cattle from an adjacent field. They paused by the carving of the Long Man to take in the archery before barrelling off down the railway line towards Peel. They were cut off and shunted back towards Greeba by their exasperated owner, where they briefly contemplated invading the shooting range but were stopped in their tracks by a stern look from Pete Mumford, who may be a vegetarian but is not to be trifled with. Suitably ‘cowed’ the beasts returned grudgingly to their pasture mooing their protests as they went.
After that it was a quick dash to take down the field before heading home to watch England’s lacklustre progress in the Euros.
Results: Long National – R.Hainge 71/415/12pb. B.Harris 56/288/6. A.Westmorland 72/590/51pb. National – P.Mumford 72/576/40. M.Hainge 72/536/32pb. D.Craine 65/305/6pb. Barebow- 1.C.Moore 71/427/13, 2.S.Gorry 64/304/7. Juniors Short National – B.Gough 71/559/37. E.Corran 57/266/4pb. E.Hainge 69/485/69. L.Brown 58/280/6pb.
Isle of Man Archery Club 