The appalling weather at the weekend meant the shooting had to be cancelled, but with the end of the Outdoor season rapidly approaching and three trophies still up for grabs, the decision was made to hold the Roger Brown Memorial Trophy on Tuesday evening. Sixteen archers gathered in glorious sunshine to vie for one of the best trophies the Club has to offer. Held in memory of a much-missed club member, the Roger Brown is a special round shot over two distances (50 & 30m), using the club’s beginners’ bows – essentially a bit of plastic and a string. It is a test of skill and is supposed to be fun.
The archers were treated to a lovely rainbow courtesy of the drizzle which started as soon as the shoot got underway. It was very pretty, certainly prettier than a lot of the shooting that went on. The evening was spent largely in approaching the targets with caution to retrieve the arrows which had fallen well short of the bosses. The round bizarrely, went against form. The favourites: specialist Barebow archers Colin Moore and Stan Gorry and two-time winner of the event David Moore, never really found their mark. At the half-way stage it was James Hill, who hadn’t picked up any kind of a bow in months, who had a clear lead of nearly 30 points over Jonathan Gordon in second. Rhys Moore, who had discovered, along with Barbara Harris, that he shot better by switching hands (shooting left-handed instead of his customary right, with Barbara doing the reverse) was in third much to his amusement and everyone else’s amazement.
Colin Moore suffered agony at the first distance with only 6 of his arrows scoring but his suffering was nothing compared to that Emily O’Hara’s who, despite being encouraged by Erin Hainge to “aim higher” every end, failed to get any of her arrows to land in a scoring zone. It was with relief that the bosses were moved to 30m.
Here things began to change. Marie Hainge suddenly found her groove. Richard Hainge, who was engaged in a private tussle with their daughter Erin for the Hainge family honours, pulled off some brilliant ends, to secure his personal victory. Barbara Harris, having overheard some advice given by Joy Gough, changed tactics and began to find some consistency and instead of being dead last as usual, ended up in ninth place. Rhys Moore shot like a man possessed and James Hill’s lead rapidly disappeared. James was consistent over the whole shoot but could not hold off Rhys’ onslaught, and when the final arrow had been pulled out of the targets (or the ground) it was Rhys’ hand on the trophy. His epic showing at 30m had overturned a 34-point deficit and Rhys took victory by a clear 12 points. The fun was over for another year.
Results: 1.R.Moore 324, 2.J.Hill 312, 3.J.Gordon 266, 4.R.Hainge 257, 5.E.Hainge 237, 6.S.Gorry 228, 7.D.Moore 194, 8.P.Mumford 189, 9.B.Harris, 10.E.Corrin 163, 11.C.Moore 158, 12.L.Corrin 149, 13.M.Hainge 146, 14.A.George 138, 15.S.O’Hara 135, 16.E.O’Hara 37.
Isle of Man Archery Club 