The round of the day at Onchan was a WA18, which was scheduled to be shot as part of the Cub’s Handicap League. Unfortunately, the Records Officer went down with the norovirus before she could convert the scratch scores, so the handicap result is currently unknown. There will be an update in a later report. The small number of archers who turned up for the morning session observed the 2 minutes silence at 11 o’clock for Remembrance Sunday as is customary at the Club.
In the Gents Compound division, it was a three-way competition between Rhys Moore, Pete Mumford and Andrew (Westy) Westmorland. Rhys was not exactly on fire on Sunday, but he did more than enough to secure yet another scratch victory. Following an operation on his arm Pete Mumford had brought an older, lighter weighted bow out of his collection to use two weeks ago. This meant he had no sight marks, which put a dent in his score for that week and then forgot to write down the sight marks he got, which put a dent in his score the following week. On Sunday he reverted back to his proper bow but with a bit of weight wound off the limbs, which meant that once again he didn’t have sight marks…guess what? Westy put in a consistent round to take second place but was not happy with his performance, even when he discovered that he had shot a pb. There is no pleasing some people.
In the Ladies Compound Aalin George seemed subdued and put in a score that was a little below her best but, as Marie Hainge elected to shoot a Portsmouth round as practice ahead of the upcoming Northern Counties shoot, she took the win anyway.
Barbara Harris had been on an upward curve for the last few weeks, but Sunday saw her crash and burn. Her first twelve arrows were good, as were the last six, but everything in between was poor. Barbara struggled to concentrate and at one point put an arrow six inches below the target face because she suddenly remembered she needed to buy a jar of honey on the way home, and simply let go of the arrow without aiming. Archery demands a certain level of multi-tasking, and making up shopping lists while you are doing it is a task too far. Barbara did manage to scrape a scratch win, but she will in all probability find herself bottom of the table once the round is handicapped. The person unlucky enough to come second was Carolyn Hirst who has only recently returned to archery after a gap of two years.
The Gents Recurve line-up consisted of the usual suspects: Peter Howland, Richard Hainge and Johnathan Gordon. Richard did not really get into his stride until the last dozen by which time it was too late, and he had to settle for second. Peter never really got into his stride at all, and he finished some way off the pace. Johnathan continued his slow steady approach to the shoot, which brought him victory and a new personal best score for the round.
Colin Moore had the Gents Barebow field all to himself.
With Erin Hainge also rehearsing for the Northern Counties competition, Lula Brown was the only junior to attempt the WA18. Lula put in a solid round on the notoriously difficult target face.
Results WA18: Gents Compound- 1.R.Moore 60/577/37, 2.A.Westmorland 60/560/20pb, 3.P.Mumford 60/524/7. Ladies Compound- A.George 60/539/17. Ladies Recurve- 1.B.Harris 59/469/7, 2.C.Hirst 60/458/7. Gents Recurve – 1.J.Gordon 60/552/27pb, 2.R.Hainge 60/505/15, 3.P.Howland 53/364/6. Gents Barebow- C.Moore 60/469/9. Junior Ladies – L.Brown 60/458/7.
Isle of Man Archery Club 