Monday saw the start of a revamped Isle of Man Rifle Association Winter League. To attempt to enhance the local leagues, a decision was approved at the Annual General Meeting to run an enlarged league by 50% which allows for more competition in the five man teams. It appears that this decision has created a casualty in the form of the withdrawal of the talented second Sulby team of Cossacks, which catered mainly for junior shooters. Let’s hope that the established Sulby team will be able to reverse the situation in the near future.
This week’s fixtures had IoM Sandsiders travelling south to a sixteen man team at Port St Mary and the home team came out on top by a mere 2 points in Division 1 and also claimed Divisions 2 and 3. It is terrific to see that both teams fielded new junior members, Liam Townsend and Jerad Hodge for Port St Mary and Mathew Roosen for IoMSC Sandsiders, all three lads produced very creditable scores for their teams – well done lads!
Port St Mary IoMSC Sandsiders
Division 1
Ashley Gardner 98 Bill Jones 99
Kevan Kneale 97 Andy Traynor 97
Gary Knight 97 Richard Arthur 96
Ean Brewis 96 Norman Ormrod 95
Ashley Gardner (J) 96 Tony Kneale 95
484 482
Division 2
Derek Kermode 96 Terry Green 95
Patrick Cubbon (J) 95 Ian Arthur 94
Dave Bould 94 Liz Jones (L) 94
George Dalton-Brown (J) 94 Steve Callus 92
Orry Kerr (J) 94 Mathew Roosen (J) 86
473 461
Division 3
Peter Lewis 93 Ken McWaters 85
Liam Townsend (J) 91 Phil Kneen 83
Peter Gelling 90
Patrick Kerr (J) 89
Graham Brown 86 00
449 168
Additional shooter
Jerad Hodge (J) 93 (reserve)
IoMSC Douglas hosted Castletown with the home team taking the win in all three Divisions. Douglas welcomed new members, Mike and Lorrie Thompson who have switched teams this year, ironically, from Castletown. Top shot for Douglas went to a disappointed Andy Potter who dropped his only point with his last shot!
IoMSC Douglas Castletown
Division 1
Andy Potter 99 Robin McFee 98
Dave Humphry 98 Nigel Christian 97
Tracey Skelton (L) 98 Shirley Caley (L) 96
Mike Clague 97 Chris Birtwhistle 96
Mark Osborn 96 Steve Gardner 95
488 482
Division 2
Martin Burns 96 John Brewis 95
Nick Brown 96 Henry Qualtrough 93
Thomas Clague (J) 96 John-Paul Bridson 93
Mike Thompson 95 Andy Bell 91
Keith Lowney 94 Lauren Cooper (L) 89
477 461
Division 3
Lorrie Thompson 93 Reg Caley 89
Paul Perkins 92 Duncan Watterson 75
Christian Eaton (J) 88
Sam Jones (J) 88
Aaron Astill (J) 87 00
448 164
Laxey entertained a strong Sulby team at the Glen Gardens range and although both Harry Creevy and Nick Kennish claimed top shots on the night for Laxey, the win in all three Divisions went to the visitors. As no indication was given on the result sheet, and no one has informed me, I am unsure who the junior shooters are for Sulby. It would be most helpful if the information could be forth coming!
Laxey Sulby
Division 1
Harry Creevy 99 Julian Teare 98
Nick Kennish 99 Will Quayle 97
John Wood 95 Orry Teare 96
Gary Kneale 94 Mark Cain 96
Andrew Jessop 92 Fergus Coulter 94
479 481
Division 2
Judy Kee (L) 92 Jess Clague (L) 94
James Hewison (J) 91 Peter Faragher 94
Charlie Kennish 87 Jim Teare 93
Bridget Kneale (L) 79 Mark Boyde 91
00 Peter Webb 91
349 463
Division 3
Teddy Sayle 89
Rod Forshaw 89
Andrew Cawte 88
00 Richard Faragher 88
00 354
I understand that regular Laxey shooter Peter Clague is at present in Liverpool, Broadgreen Hospital. On behalf of the shooting fraternity, I wish him best wishes for a speedy recovery and look forward to seeing Peter back on the shooting scene soon.
Obviously, with the withdrawal of Cossacks, the match with Kirk Michael was not shot.
15 year old Trafford wins the Monthly Handicap
In near perfect shooting conditions teenager, Alex Trafford produced a personal best score to win a closely shot match at Sinclair Range on Sunday morning from elder statesman, Tom Lord. Gun scores for the match from the eight members who managed to compete, were reasonable but top shot on the day went to Andy Potter, who shot an excellent 590 x 600 but unfortunately included a 95 in his series, however, Tracey Skelton (who also posted a personal best) and Tom Lord were reasonably close, both posting 587’s. Full results were:- 1 – Trafford 94, 92, 96, 96, 98, 97 = 573 + 39 (h/cap) = 612, 2 – Lord 98, 98, 97, 99, 98, 97 = 587 + 24 = 611, 3 – Skelton 97, 99, 98, 99, 98, 97 = 587 + 19 = 606, 4 – Bill Jones 98, 97, 96, 99, 96, 97 = 583 + 23 = 606, 5 – Potter 98, 100, 99, 95, 99, 99 = 590 +15 = 605, 6 – Nick Brown 98, 96, 97, 94, 95, 95 = 575 + 29 = 604, 7 – John Wood 96, 98, 91, 97, 97, 97 = 576 + 22 = 598, 8 – Mike Clague 99, 94, 93, 97, 94, 98 = 575 + 15 = 590.
Dates for your Diaries
Next week’s matches on Monday, October 20th will be IoMSC Douglas v Kirk Michael, Port St Mary host Sulby and IoMSC Sandsiders travel north to the Glen Gardens range, Laxey. PLEASE NOTE - Cossacks v Castletown is cancelled.
The IoMRA Competition Secretary has asked me to correct an error in a previous column and inform all shooters that Wednesday October 22nd is the evening for two Isle of Man Rifle Association competitions, The Veterans Cup and The Oake Memorial Trophy (NOT the Lady of Mann competition which will be organised later in the season). The competitions are a “turn up on the night to compete” event and the venue is the Sinclair Range, St Johns. Shooters are asked to arrive at 7.30 pm for an 8 pm start. Please support these competitions as the entry fees are a valuable source of the Isle of Man Rifle Association funding.
