With the splendid weather allowing the TT races to go to schedule, the range at Greeba was once again accessible for shooting. Showing no mercy, the Records Officer made the round of the day a WA 1440 (90/70/50/30m Gents – 70/60/50/30 Ladies), a challenge given the enforced lack of practice, the heat and the horseflies.
The largest field of the day came in the Gents Recurve with Danny Cowin, James Hill and Alex Allen-Snell going for glory. It soon became apparent that whatever was bothering Alex the last time he shot was still bothering him and the contest was between Danny and James. Both men had misses at 90m. Danny had three, James had just the one. Both men shot Season’s best scores for the distance and James had a 1 point lead going into the second distance. Unfortunately for Danny he opened with another miss at 70m, while James, buoyed up by his success at 90m put in a solid distance total that stretched his lead to 17 points. Things were more even at 50m, but James managed to add another 3 points to his lead giving him a 20 point advantage going into the final distance. Danny opened with two perfect arrows before winging one out into the 5, after that he couldn’t find the middle to save his life. James on the other hand was finding the middle with ease and he romped home to take the win by 54 points. Alex Snell put in the highest distance total for the 30m but it was too little, too late.
Barbara Harris shot unopposed in the Ladies Recurve and showed some of her old flair at the longer distances. A catastrophic start to the 50m however say her put her first two arrows into the grass. This dented her score, her confidence and her form and her poor performance continued into the final distance. Somehow though, she did enough to record a Season’s best score.
Dave and Rhys Moore went head-to-head in the Gents Compound with the inevitable result of a win for the younger Moore. Aalin George was also in a winning mood in the Ladies Compound, though she wasn’t happy with her 50m total and complained that her knees were sweating. Joy Gough was also unhappy with her 50m distance and her 70 and 60! By the time the 30m rolled around she was firmly in practice mode to salvage something from the day.
Meanwhile Pete Mumford took advantage of his age to shoot a Metric 1 (same as the Ladies WA1440 but relabelled to preserve the delicate male ego). Mr Mumford enjoyed a relaxed shoot, musing upon Inter Milan’s tactics and dissecting the TT riders’ performances. He became so relaxed that he forgot to shoot completely at one point and had to be allowed to go out of turn to catch up.
Erin Hainge shot another pb for the Bristol IV but still finds 40 yards to be a troublesome distance and is yet to feel she has truly conquered it. Barebow specialist Stan Gorry soaked up the sunshine and shot a Long Metric III with which he was reasonably happy.
Results WA1440: Gents Recurve- 1.J.Hill 141/1050/19/10, 2.D.Cowin 140/996/8/3, 3.A.Allen-Snell 133/916/17/7. Ladies Recurve – B.Harris 142/1050/13/4. Gents Compound- 1.R.Moore 144/1362/75/27, 2.D.Moore 144/1252/41/15. Ladies Compound – 1.A.George 144/1314/61/20, 2.J.Gough 144/1158/18/5. Metric I – P.Mumford 143/1232/38/8. Bristol IV – E.Hainge 143/1163/89pb. Long Metric III – S.Gorry 71/467/1/0.
Isle of Man Archery Club 