With the weather looking unsettled at the weekend, the decision was taken to start the Indoor season early. To that end fifteen archers assembled at the Onchan Hub to shoot a Portsmouth round. The Compounds are required to shoot on the smaller three-spot target face but three of the Recurves also elected to do so: Jonathan Gordon, Richard Hainge and junior Erin Hainge.
The junior Recurve division was something of a landslide in favour of on form Erin Hainge who took victory by 80 points from her nearest rival Anastacia Schnettler. Third place Emily O’Hara had the consolation of recording a personal best score for her efforts and it was good to see the juniors in action.
David Craine, Richard Hainge, Jonathan Gordon, Tom Rogers and James Hill stepped onto the shooing line in the Gents Recurve division, where the competition for top spot soon resolved itself into a tussle between Jonathan and James. There was nothing between the two over the first three dozen where the scores remained tied, but Jonathan found and extra gear from somewhere dropping only seven points over the last two dozen to take the win. Richard Hainge secured third place, while Tom Rogers had no difficulty in taking fourth from, the ever genial, David Craine in fifth.
As expected, victory in the Gents Compound went to Rhys Moore but it was not the usual one-sided affair. Rhys finished just 7 points ahead of his dad David who seems to have come to terms with his latest bow. Andrew Westmorland finished a further 7 points back to take third place. This left Pete Mumford and Colin Moore vying to avoid the wooden spoon. Colin did manage to record more golds, but Pete sneaked fourth place by a single point from an unlucky Colin. Only 22 points separated first and last, and Rhys may have his work cut out this season to maintain his unbeaten record at Club level.
Lone Lady Compound Aalin George put in a solid round but was a little below her best, being outshot by all of the male archers, something which rarely happens.
The Trad/Longbow division provided an epic battle between Stan Gorry and Peter Howland. Peter Howland found himself 1 point ahead after three dozen, but an excellent fourth dozen from Stan saw him leapfrog 27 points ahead. It looked to be certain victory for Stan, but Peter came back at him over the final dozen to take the win by 5 points. James Hill shooting in the afternoon session, also recorded a Tradbow score but was never really in the mix.
Results Portsmouth: Junior Ladies Recurve- 1.E.Hainge 60/541/18, 2.A.Schnettler 60/460/4, 3.E.O’Hara 53/371/0pb. Gents Recurve- 1.J.Gordon 60/572/35, 2.J.Hill 60/562/29, 3.R.Hainge 60/544/22, 4.T.Rogers 60/534/17, D.Craine 60/448/8. Gents Compound- 1.R.Moore 60/580/40, 2.D.Moore 60/573/34, 3.A.Westmorland 60/566/26, 4.P.Mumford 60/559/20, 5.C.Moore 60/558/20. Ladies Compound- A.George 60/555/14. Gents Tradbow- 1.P.Howland 53/279/1, 2.S.Gorry 51/274/1, 3.J.Hill 40/155/0.
Isle of Man Archery Club 