After two halcyon days of summer the weather naturally took a turn for the worse when it came time for shooting. Sunday dawned bleak and cold as the island was battered by high winds, but while the boats were cancelled, a handful of archers turned up at Greeba because at least it wasn’t raining. The round of the day was a 720; arrows shot at a single distance – 50m for Compounds, Juniors and Barebows, 70m for Recurves.
Dave and Rhys Moore and Pete Mumford started the morning without much enthusiasm, swiftly decided that discretion was the better part of valour and decamped, leaving those stupid…er dedicated enough to continue.
In the Barebow division Johnathan Gordon made light work of the conditions and mincemeat of his opposition Ralf Mitchell. Johnathan mange to keep all but one of his arrows on target to easily break the 500 barrier. Ralf, on the other hand, struggled and limped home with less than half of Johnathan’s score to finish a dim and distant second.
Westy (Andrew Westmorland) similarly had little difficulty with the conditions crashing through the 600 barrier to take the win in the Gents Compound division. He shared a boss with Marie Hainge the only Lady Compound available as Aalin George was off island helping her dad Allen to celebrate his 60th birthday. Marie, relatively inexperienced, did well given the weather.
James Hill, back from university for the holidays, took on Richard Hainge in the Gents Recurve. The pair were more vulnerable to the gusting winds shooting the 70m distance. James went wide with just 1 arrow to record the win but was, unsurprisingly, well down his best. Richard had just three misses but found it hard to get his arrows towards the centre and finished some 80 points behind.
Junior archer Erin Hainge was the only person besides Westy to make all of her arrows count but her score was likewise lower than usual.
The afternoon session was abandoned. Everyone is praying for better weather to come.
Results WA 720: Barebow- 1.J.Gordon 71/527/6/4, 2.R.Mitchell 47/233/3/2. Gents Compound- A.westmorland 72/633/17/1. Ladies Compound- M.Hainge 60/462/6/1. Gents Recurve- 1.J.Hill 71/498/8/3, 2.R.Hainge 69/411/1/0. Junior Ladies- E.Hainge 72/489/1/1.
Isle of Man Archery Club 