Once again Club activity was split between the Indoor range at Onchan and the Outdoor one at
Greeba on Sunday. Indoors the round of the day was a three-spot Portsmouth, with single faces for
Trad, Bare and Longbows. Outdoors the archers tackled another WA720.
Johnathan Gordon switched back to Recurve with good effect to beat Richard Hainge to the top
spot. Tom Rogers, who has been working hard to improve his technique, was rewarded for his
efforts with a pb which saw him break the 500 barrier for the first time.
Les Corran having switched disciplines gave veteran Pete Mumford a run for his money in the Gents
Compound. Les finished just 10 points behind Pete in what was only his second Compound
competition and seemed very happy with his progress.
Lone lady Compound Joy Gough continued her comeback with just one miss to blot her score card as
she works her way slowly back to full strength.
Ralf Mitchell, back from terrifying the turtles in the waters off Barbados and sporting a nice tan and
a hideous haircut, made up the numbers in the Gents Barebow alongside Chris Crompton and Colin
Moore. The contest was a close one between Chris and Colin, but the victory ultimately went Chris
Crompton’s way. Ralf, as usual, talked up a storm and had the satisfaction off chalking up a personal
best score for the round even if he was never in contention. Stan Gorry had the Gents Tradbow all to
himself, while Peter Howland cornered the market in the Longbow division.
Erin Hainge was the only junior in action on Sunday and had the satisfaction of out scoring her father
Richard even though she had an uncharacteristic miss.
Another dank chilly day greeted the archers at Greeba. Wet underfoot and breezy around the ears, it
was a typical early season shoot. In an attempt to minimize the effects of an awkward crosswind the
squad used the slightly more sheltered junior range. With the maximum distance of 50m on offer
Recurver Barbara Harris settled for using the morning as practice while Andrew Westmorland, Aalin
George and Dave and Rhys Moore shot the WA50m round designated for the Compounds.
Unsurprisingly, Rhys Moore took the win. Westy, trying in vain to get a 6-gold end, had to settle for
second. Dave Moore, still getting used to the feel of his new bow, came third. Aalin George had a
difficult start to the day when her release aid refused to go off. Famous at the Club for the length of
time she can hold her breath on a shot, Aalin was at times turning blue with the lack of oxygen as
struggled with the recalcitrant trigger. Rhys Moore on hand with an allen key, kept adjusting the
spring setting to try and help. Finally, during the mid-session interval, he took the whole thing apart
and cleaned the grit out that had been blocking the mechanism. Unfortunately, he did this when
Aalin wasn’t looking, and when shooting resumed Aalin got a shock when her arrow went off before
she had time to set up properly. Rhys employed the allen key again and eventually Aalin got the
setting she wanted. By that time though her score had taken a hit.
Results: Onchan Portsmouth- Gents Recurve- 1.J.Gordon 60/559/28, 2.R.Hainge 60/541/17, 3.Tom
Rogers 60/505/4pb. Gents Compound- 1.P.Mumford 60/560/23, 2.L.Corran 60/550/18. Ladies
Compound- J.Gough 59/537/14. Gents Barebow- 1.C.Crompton 60/505/12, 2.C.Moore 60/493/9,
3.R.Mitchell 60/412/4pb. Gents Tradbow- S.Gorry 60/451/6. Gents Longbow- P.Howland 57/331/1.
Jnr Ladies- E.Hainge 59/553/31. Greeba WA50m- Gents Compound- 1.R.Moore 72/670/30/12, 2.A.Westmorland 72/649/24/10, 3.D.Moore 72/626/17/4. Ladies Compound- A.George
72/633/24/5.
Isle of Man Archery Club 