As the last Club shoot before the Island Games, those on the Team were looking to post one last good score as a confidence booster. The rest of the archers were just looking for a relaxed shoot in the Manx sunshine. What they got was heavy, gusting westerly winds interspersed with rain. From the outset the day was about mentally and physically dealing with adverse conditions. The Round of they day was a WA 1440 for the Team and a Short Metric for everyone else.
Obviously the longer the distance the more the arrow is affected by the wind and the harder it is to hit. On Sunday the wind was not just affecting the arrows, the archers themselves were getting buffeted on the shooting line and had to time their shots as best they could. Danny Cowin, hater of both the wind and the 90m distance, actually dealt better with the conditions then both James Hill and Alex Allen-Snell. A poor 70m however, let him down and James in. The two were closer at 50m but James eased a few points further ahead. At 30m James stamped his authority on the proceedings to take the win by a clear 58 points. Alex never got to grips with the conditions until final dozen and he finished well behind the others. Barbara Harris had a dismal start to the day but steadied at the final three distances and found a lot to be positive about given the conditions.
On the Compound side of things Rhys Moore philosophically announced that the day was not one for high scores but calmly shot well in excess of 1300 as usual. Dave Moore had to dash off to the Tynwald Garden Party at Government House and so could only post a score for the Long Metric. Aalin George ‘didn’t want to’ but did anyway to take victory over Joy Gough in the Ladies Compound. Joy was unhappy with the odd loose shot that kept happening, so that when it all began to click into place at 60m she got so excited she forgot to shoot one of her arrows.
Stan Gorry defeated Ralf Mitchell in the Gents Barebow, while Colin Moore enjoyed himself with his Tradbow. Sharon Griffiths inexperience cost her at 50m, but she gradually came to terms with the conditions and recovered well at 30m.
Erin Hainge travelled off island to attend the Junior National Championships at Lilleshall. It was the biggest competition she has attended to date and Erin had a nervous start on the blustery first day which dropped her down the leaderboard. She persevered and managed to work her way back up to finish 7th in the u14’s Girls Metric Round. The second day was a National round shot over yards. Erin made a better start than she had the day before but a few loose arrows towards the end dropped her down one position but she still finished in a creditable 8th place.
Results WA 1440: Gents Recurve-1.J.Hill 140/1021/16/4, 2.D.Cowin 140/961/11/2, 3.A.Allen-Snell 129/875/10/2. Ladies Recurve-B.Harris 138/954/12/3. Gents Compound-R.Moore 144/1340/69/23. Ladies Compound-A.George 144/1279/55/22, 2.J.Gough 143/1121/12/3. Short Metric-Gents Barebow-1.S.Gorry 70/457/2/2, 2.R.Mitchell 60/328/0/0. Gents Tradbow-C.Moore 70/447/4/0. Ladies Recurve-S.Griffiths 62/366/3/2.
The Isle of Man Archery Team would like to thank their sponsors Dominion Marine for their generous contribution towards travelling costs for the Island Games.
Isle of Man Archery Club 