The Outdoor range at Greeba once again proved to have it own climate on Sunday. The forecast had predicted 13 degrees but feeling like 10 with the wind chill and sunny spells. Muffled up as though going on an Arctic trek, the archers found the field to be a suntrap, and layers of clothing were tossed aside amid mutterings of the probability of sunburnt ears later. It was in fact perfect shooting weather. The round of the day was ostensibly a WA 720, but a variety of rounds were shot across the course of the two sessions.
Aalin George fresh of the morning boat having picked up a brand-new bow in England, joined fellow Compound teammates Rhys and Dave Moore and Westy Westmorland in tackling the WA50m round. Given that Aalin had no sight mark and was shooting a bow with a longer draw length than she was accustomed to, it was no surprise that she struggled with her timing and made a slow start. Aalin is however, a talented and skilled archer and she brought all her experience to bear to record a decent benchmark score with her new ‘baby’. Joy Gough, still working her way back to fitness, came second.
The Gents competition was really a fight for second place between Dave and Westy, as Rhys Moore remained untouchable, delivering a thumping Grand Master Bowman score to take the win. Westy was always ahead in the encounter and although Dave managed to claw back a few points over the final dozen, it was not quite enough, and he had to settle for third place. Pete Mumford shooting in the afternoon session slotted into fourth with Les Corran fifth.
Les might have been a little tired by the time he shot Compound in the afternoon session, having already taken on Tom Rogers at a Short Metric (50 & 30m) in Gents Recurve division in the morning. Tom had an emphatic win but two last minute misses meant he failed to break the 500 barrier he been chasing and he sadly told the Records Officer that ‘he had let himself down’. David Craine, shooting in the afternoon session seized second place ahead of Les.
Stan Gorry had the Barebow 50m(122) round all to himself as Colin Moore was busy recovering from his birthday celebrations of the night before.
Barbara Harris was not in the mood for a 720 round and elected to shoot a Long Metric 1 (70 & 60m). She was joined by Peter Howland and Erin Hainge. The fortunes this trio were mixed to say the least. Barbara was trying to pretend that she was tickety-boo and the lung infection that had kept her out of shooting for the last 5 weeks had not just moved from her left lung into the right lung and she was struggling to walk up and down the field much less shoot. She turned up to shoot as many arrows as she could and try to sort out her reference point and elbow elevation. Exhaustion eventually kicked in during the last dozen and Barbara had to withdraw from the competition, but she carried on scoring for Erin and Peter. Peter Howland had a nightmare of a morning. A series of increasingly random misses was explained when his arrow rest broke completely and an equipment failure brought the shoot to halt while he replaced it with a new one. A few arrows later his bow de-limbed but fortunately neither he nor the bow sustained any damage. Another equipment failure was called while he re-assembled the bow. Peter did finish the round, but it was probably the worst Recurve score he has ever posted. Erin Hainge, on the other hand, was having a ball shooting a WA1440 of which the 70 and 60m comprise the first half. Her form and timing were exemplary, and she added 28 points to her pb for the 70m distance alone. Erin then went on to complete the round in the afternoon over, what she considers, the ‘easy’ distances of 50 & 30m to record a Bowman 1st Class score and a new overall pb for the round.
Juniors Lula Brown and Emily O’Hara went head-to-head in a Short Metric II (40 & 30m) at which Lula claimed victory by a considerable margin.
Results: Ladies Compound- 1.A.George 71/617/15/4, 2.J.Gough 67/503/4/0. Gents Compound- 1.R.Moore 72/688/43/14, 2.A.Westmorland 72/636/12/3, 3.D.Moore 72/632/12/4, 4.P.Mumford 69/577/13/2, 5.L.Corran 65/527/12/4. Gents Recurve- Long Metric 1- P.Howland 40/198/0/0. Short Metric- 1.T.Rogers 70/491/4/1, 2.D.Craine 64/410/6/2, 3.L.Corran 57/317/1/0. WA1440 – Ladies Recurve- E.Hainge 144/1124/15/8pb. Short Metric II- 1.L.Brown 71/486/4/2, 2.E.O’Hara 68/394/3/0.
Isle of Man Archery Club 