The Indoor season got underway at Onchan on Sunday with the archers easing their way in with a Portsmouth round. Numbers were a little low with only eleven archers turning up over the course of the day. The archers were given the choice of a three-spot or a larger single face target, with most electing to go for the challenge of the three-spot option.
The Gents Recurve was a three-horse race between Johnathan Gordon, Mat Smith and Richard Hainge. Mat has improved massively since his return, and he put in a good round but had to settle for third. The battle for top spot was a close one, with Johnathan and Richard neck and neck from start to finish. Richard actually hit one more gold than Johnathan but missed out by just three points; Johnathan holding his form just that little better to take the win.
The Ladies Recurve was a straight head-to-head between Emily O’Hara and Barbara Harris. Barbara had not picked up a bow since the end of April and wasn’t expecting much. Her aim was to make it to the halfway break. She surprised herself by shooting quite well, muscle memory and a slightly cavalier attitude helping a bit. Unfortunately, old age (she turned 60 in September) meant that she forgot to bring her wrist brace and, setting up badly with the third arrow of the second half, the wrist on her draw arm dislocated. She snapped it back into place but from then on it kept popping out every couple of arrows, so the third arrow just remained unshot. This naturally put a huge dent in her score and scuppered her chances. Emily, who worked hard over the Outdoor season put in a solid round and deservedly claimed victory. Barbara elected to use the full-face target.
The Ladies Compound provided another head-to-head, this time in the shape of Marie Hainge and Aalin George. Marie put in a solid performance and has closed the gap considerable on Aalin over the year. Marie could not find enough golds to put pressure on Aalin however, and Aalin took the win by 19 points.
Chris Crompton had the Gents Barebow division all to himself and so took the win unopposed with a relaxed but classy round.
Stan Gorry gave Peter Howland a thrashing in the Gents Longbow category taking the win by a margin of 136 points. Stan went on to shoot a Tradbow round in the afternoon session, taking the win unopposed.
Results Portsmouth: Gents Recurve- 1.J.Gordon 60/573/35, 2.R.Hainge 60/570/36, M.Smith 60/547/23. Ladies Recurve- 1.E.O’Hara 59/519/15, 2.B.Harris 52/426/13. Ladies Compound- 1.A.George 60/569/29, 2.M.Hainge 60/550/16. Barebow- C.Crompton 60/527/14. Longbow- 1.S.Gorry 57/338/6, 2.P.Howland 48/202/1. Tradbow- S.Gorry 60/418/4.
