Turnout was a little down for the first shoot of February, with sixteen archers tackling a Portsmouth round as part of the Club’s scratch league. It was also the last chance for the archers to shoot the full distance of the hall before the Club Championships on the 8th of February.
Johnathan Gordon had it all his own way in the Gents Recurve, taking victory by 98 points over nearest rival Richard Hainge. Richard, still trying to come to terms with the dynamics of his new riser, recorded six misses which effectively destroyed his chances. David Craine, coming in third, at least had the satisfaction of keeping all of his arrows on target. Danny Cowin was a no show having danced himself out at a 90’s Disco event at Bench the day before.
There were mixed fortunes in the Ladies Recurve division. Erin Hainge extended her unbeaten record, although she was a little below her best. Emily O’Hara’s rising confidence rewarded her with a comfortable second place well ahead of Barbara Harris who picked up the last spot on the podium. Barbara had a very slow start to the proceedings, shooting with borrowed limbs (her third different set-up in as many weeks) had no sight marks and completely under-estimated their power and it took her 18 arrows to dial them in. Once set, she showed the kind of form she has not had in years, but by then the damage was done. Newbies Caitlin Gelder and Erin Quirk continued to enjoy themselves with a close-run competition for fourth. Caitlin just edged it by 3 points despite having one more miss than Erin Q.
Pete Mumford had the shooting line to himself in the Gents Compound, with the rest of the gang missing in action but that didn’t stop him from gleefully celebrating his unopposed win.
Aalin George reigned supreme in the Ladies Compound division over Marie Hainge and Joy Gough. Marie shot solidly to take second place and Joy had to be content with third.
In the Gents Barebow division, Chris Crompton suffered a reversal of fortunes as he suffered a rare loss to Colin Moore. Chris was guilty of trying too hard and overthinking his shots. The result was that he put 2 arrows wide of the target while many of his others went out into the lower scoring rings of the full face Portsmouths they were shooting on. Colin, while not delivering his best, did enough by making all his arrows count to take the win.
Peter Howland had a good day in the Gents Longbow, keeping all of his arrows on target to take the win unopposed.
Results Portsmouth: Gents Recurve- 1.J.Gordon 60/578/40, 2.R.Hainge 54/480/14, 3.D.Craine 60/431/6. Ladies Recurve- 1.E.Hainge 60/553/25, 2.E.O’Hara 60/516/12, 3.B.Harris 55/465/9, 4.C.Gelder 58/404/3, 5.E.Quirk 59/401/3. Gents Compound- P.Mumford 60/559/21. Ladies Compound- 1.A George 60/568/29, 2.M.Hainge 60/554/16, 3.J.Gough 60/539/13. Gents Barebow- 1.C.Moore 60/497/10, 2.C.Crompton 58/492/14. Gent Longbow- P.Howland 60/331/1.
Isle of Man Archery Club 