It was back to a Portsmouth round for what should have been the last Indoor round of the season. Thirteen archers turned up over the course of the day and the standard, with the odd exception, was high, with Club Records tumbling and personal best scores being set by several archers.
Johnathan Gordon was back on form, taking an easy win over Richard Hainge in the Gents Recurve. Richard, who was struggling with back pain – the result of digging out and setting the base of a greenhouse the previous day, did better than he thought he might, given the circumstances, and was not too disappointed. Matt Smith, who has recently returned to archery after a long break, came in third.
Erin Hainge was in the zone on Sunday, taking the win by a 68 point margin from Emily O’Hara. Emily, improving week on week, put in a personal best score to take second place, while Barbara Harris limped into third. Erin stayed on in the afternoon session and her combined score was a new Club Record for the double round. Everything seems to be set for Erin to have an epic Outdoor season.
More records were broken in the Gents Compound, where Rhys Moore was on fire. Rhys broke his own record with a fine display of form, dropping just 7 points short of a maximum score. He followed this up with another good showing in the afternoon session to break the Club Record for the double round. Les Corran was guilty of trying too hard. Over aiming and score chasing put a dent in his score, until he took his glasses off and simply concentrated on trying to execute the shot properly. His final dozen total showed what he was capable of, and he has learned his lesson going forward. Pete Mumford put in a solid round but had to settle for third place.
The Ladies Compound was a straight head-to-head between Marie Hainge and Joy Gough, with Marie taking the win by a clear margin.
There is no requirement for Barebow archers to shoot a three-spot Portsmouth, but Colin Moore bravely tackled it anyway and was glad he did, breaking 500 and setting a new personal best for the round. The fact that Ralf Mitchell was not present on Sunday may have helped but I couldn’t possible comment. Peter Howland took the win in the Longbow unopposed.
Results Portsmouth: Gents Recurve – 1.J.Gordon 60/575/40, 2.R.Hainge 59/533/16, 3.M.Smith 52/423/6. Ladies Recurve – 1.E.Hainge 60/568/35, 2.E.O’Hara 59/500/9pb, 3.B.Harris 57/475/8. Gents Compound – 1.R.Moore 60/593/53NCR, 2.L.Corran 60/559/20, 3.P.Mumford 60/554/17. Ladies Compound – 1.M.Hainge 60/560/23, 2.J.Gough 60/538/12. Gents Barebow – C.Moore 60/513/12pb. Gents Longbow – P.Howland 58/332/1.
Isle of Man Archery Club 