Only eight members of the Isle of Man Archery Club managed to make it to Greeba on Sunday for the last round before TT. They had hoped to shoot a full days round but the short shower predicted for midday became heavy and persistent. Whilst the rest of the island basked in sunshine, the storm clouds hovered over the shooting field. The shoot might have continued into the afternoon but for the swarms of very aggressive midges which crawled into ears, eyes and noses and the decision was made to abandon. The round of the day was limited to a Long Metric – three dozen arrows at each of two distances 90m and 70m for the men, 70m and 60m for the ladies, with juniors Josh Trafford and Bradley Layton shooting 60 and 50m according to their age group. Danny Cowin and Colin Moore neither of whom had sight marks for 90m elected to shoot the shorter ladies distances. The results formed part of the Club’s Scratch League.
The only direct competition for the adults was between Dave Moore and Pete Mumford in the Compound division. Dave took the lead after the first dozen but thereafter Peter was in the ascendant and took the win by a clear 15 points.
Colin Moore shot well over the Metric I distances and added 18 points to his personal best score for the round. Danny Cowin was disappointed with his score but since he had never shot the round before it was also a personal best score for him.
Joy Gough, the only female Compound archer in action, posted one of the best scores she has had for the round since 2004. Barbara Harris, the lone female Recurve archer on Sunday, displayed a welcome return to form largely due to a retuned bow courtesy of Pete Mumford.
In the Junior Recurve division, Bradley Layton led from start to finish to take the win from Josh Trafford. Both boys posted personal best scores for the round.
Results – Long Metric Gents Compound – 1. P. Mumford 72 620 19 5, 2. D. Moore 72 605 14 3. Long Metric I Gents Compound – C. Moore 72 634 14 8. Long Metric I Gents Recurve – D. Cowin 72 492 5 0 pb. Long Metric I Ladies Compound – J. Gough 72 614 11 3. Ladies Recurve – B. Harris 72 523 3 2 pb. Long Metric II Junior Recurve – 1. B. Layton 70 452 3 1 pb, 2. J. Trafford 68 433 2 0 pb.
