Ten Isle of Man archers headed off Island over the Bank Holiday weekend to compete in the
Durham and Northumberland Archery Association’s Double FITA Star competition, hosted by
Greenlane Archers in Ashington.
The weekend consisted of a Double WA1440, with a full round shot on both Saturday and
Sunday. A WA1440 sees archers shoot 144 arrows across four distances throughout the
day. Gents shoot at 90, 70, 50 and 30 metres, while the ladies shoot at 70, 60, 50 and 30
metres.
With a questionable weather forecast and Manx archers having already suffered a number of
cancelled shoots this year, there were plenty of fingers crossed that the predicted
thunderstorms would stay away.
In the Ladies Compound, Aalin George had a slow start on Saturday but produced a much
stronger performance on Sunday to claim the overall victory. Caitlin Gelder, competing in her
first off-Island competition, put in a solid performance on Saturday before producing a
personal best on Sunday to finish second behind George.
The Ladies Recurve competition also produced strong results for the Manx contingent. Erin
Hainge put together two consistent scores, moving from third place after the opening day to
finish second overall in the senior category. Emily O’Hara continued to improve throughout
the weekend, bettering her Saturday score on Sunday to take victory in the Under-21
category.
The Gents Recurve competition was particularly closely fought. Johnathan Gordon finished
day one in second place, with Richard Hainge sitting in fourth. Gordon responded in
impressive fashion on Sunday, shooting a personal best and setting a new club record to
move into first place and take the overall victory. Hainge also continued to climb the
rankings, shooting strongly to finish third overall.
The Gents Compound category was an all-Manx affair, with Andrew Westmorland leading
from start to finish. Westmorland capped off an impressive weekend with a personal best to
round out the season in style. Ethan Moore completed the competition in second place,
while Les Corran secured third, adding a personal best on the Saturday.
With the promised thunderstorms finally rolling in towards the end of Sunday, the
presentation ceremony became a rather soggy affair. However, the weather could do little to
dampen the mood. Following the strong individual performances, the Isle of Man team also
took the top spot in both the Recurve and Compound team events.
For six of the archers, however, the weekend was not quite over. Rather than heading home,
the keen group travelled to Cleadon Archers, just south of Newcastle, for a third day of
competition on Bank Holiday Monday.
The Monday event was a Double WA720, with all arrows being shot at a single distance.
Recurve archers competed at 70 metres on the larger target, while the Compound archers
shot from 50 metres at a smaller target.
O’Hara continued her excellent weekend by taking another victory in the Ladies Under-21
category, while Hainge finished fifth in the Senior Ladies.
In the Gents Recurve, Gordon added a second-place finish to his weekend results, with
Hainge taking sixth. In the Gents Compound, faced with some tough opposition in the form
of GB international archers, Westmorland finished fourth and Corran seventh.
Isle of Man Archery Club 