It would be fair to say that a lot of archers had a bad day at the office on Sunday. The last time so many people had a bad day at the office was on Wall Street in 1929, which was a pity given that it was the Club Championships. The round was a 3-spot WA18 for the Compounds and Recurves, with Trad/Bare/Longbow and the novices shooting a Portsmouth face. There was competition across the board, no one won a title unopposed – the victors earned their trophies.
The largest field of the day came in the Gents Recurve where five archers vied for the silverware: Danny Cowin, Tom Rogers, Richard Hainge, David Craine and Johnathan Gordon. David unfortunately, had a nightmare of a shoot ending up last and sharing some slightly hysterical laughter with Joy Gough and Barbara Harris who were shooting either side of him. All three fell into the bad day at the office bracket in their respective divisions. Danny Cowin had the uphill task of shooting without having had any practice for two weeks and not having shot on a 3-spot at all this season. It seemed to be all or nothing for Danny, with 10’s and 9’s suddenly followed by a miss. As the misses mounted up Danny’s chances of a podium finish evaporated and he came in fourth. Richard Hainge, struggling to keep his lead shoulder down suffered a similar fate, the misses dropping him out of contention into third place. The fight for the trophy came down to Tom Rogers and Johnathan Gordon. Johnathan had a 5-point lead by the end of the first dozen which he extended to an 18-point lead by the end of the second. Tom was not shooting badly; he just wasn’t shooting as well as Johnathan. The last half dozen before the mid-session break saw Tom claw back a couple of points; the centre just as Johnathan lost it. It looked as though it might go down to the wire, but the break did Tom no favours. His first three arrows veered alarmingly to the right. Two of them hit low scoring outer rings while the third missed completely – his challenge was over. Johnathan on the other hand got himself back in the zone; his dozen totals rising as the finish line came in sight and posted a personal best score to claim victory and the trophy.
The Ladies Recurve was a one-sided affair with Erin Hainge coasting to an easy victory over Emily O’Hara in second and Barbara Harris a distant third. Erin wasn’t quite at her best, but it was more than enough to lift the trophy. Harris shot as though she had never picked up a bow in her life and her dozen totals got lower and lower as the round wore on. Emily had a slow start but a few sage words of advice from Joy steadied her, and she deserved her second-place finish.
The Gents Compound was a two-horse race between Rhys Moore and Pete Mumford. Rhys was not on his usual form, but he performed well enough to continue his unbeaten run and keep the title of champion for another year. Pete shot consistently but couldn’t find the centre of the target. He didn’t hit a 10 until his 25th arrow. A few more followed after the break but by then it was too late. Always the bridesmaid, never the bride.
The Ladies Compound seemed like a forgone conclusion with Aalin George odds on to win, but Marie Hainge gave her a run for her money. Aalin retained her title, but the margin was not as large as might have been expected at the beginning of the season. Joy Gough found herself having to aim off in an effort to keep her arrows on target and couldn’t understand why she had run out of windage. Pete Mumford took a look at the bow at the break and gleefully announced that Joy had been winding her sight in the wrong direction. That mistake put Joy down into third.
Someone who had a much better time of things was Stan Gorry. Stam competed in the Longbow event in the morning session against Peter Howland and in the Tradbow against Colin Moore in the afternoon taking both titles in good style. Colin was unlucky twice on Sunday. Up against Chris Crompton in the morning session, Colin seemed to have victory in his grasp after a slow start by Chris. Colin had a comfortable lead until the interval but then Chris came back at him just as Colin began to struggle to find the middle of the target. Chris became a model of focus, and he rode out the winner by a clear margin.
Radu Lavric took the Novice Trophy against Caitlin Gelder.
Results Indoor Club Championships: Gents Recurve- 1.J.Gordon 60/558/26pb, 2.T.Rogers 59/514/19, 3.R.Hainge 56/473/9, 4.D.Cowin 54/435/9, 5.D.Craine 41/307/3. Ladies Recurve- 1.E.Hainge 60/511/12, 2.E.O’Hara 53/414/6, 3.B.Harris 49/367/5. Gents Compound- 1.R.Moore 60/568/28, 2.P.Mumford 60/533/10. Ladies Compound- 1.A.George 60/563/21, 2.M.Hainge 60/544/14, 3.J.Gough 56/471/7. Gents Longbow- 1.S.Gorry 59/394/3, 2.P.Howland 59/361/6. Gents Barebow- 1.C.Crompton 60/525/17, 2.C.Moore 60/497/9. Gents Tradbow- 1.S.Gorry 60/457/5, 2.C.Moore 59/435/3. Novice Trophy- 1.R.Lavric 60/493/6, 2.C.Gelder 59/369/2.
Isle of Man Archery Club 