There was an excellent turnout at Greeba for the Annual Windsor Trophy Competition. The Windsor Trophy consists of three dozen arrows shot at each of three distances 60/50 and 40 yards. The Junior archers shoot distances according to their age group. There were three trophies up for grabs: Compound, Recurve and Junior with the highest score in each group winning irrespective of gender. Conditions were bright but heavy overnight rains made the ground heavy and it was quite cool in the shade.
The Compound division saw a four way shoot off between Rhys Moore, Pete Mumford, Colin Moore and Dave Moore. The standard of shooting was high, with very few points being dropped by any archer. At the end of the first distance Dave Moore had a four point lead over Rhys and Colin who were tied on 316 points apiece, with Pete Mumford a further two points back. By the end of the second distance Rhys had pulled himself equal with Dave, while Pete had overhauled Colin. Both Dave and Rhys maxed the next two dozen arrows to remain tied on 854. Rhys then nudged an arrow into the red while Dave stayed resolutely in the yellow to post a new pb for the round and take the win by 2 points. Pete Mumford also shot a maximum on the final distance to cement his third place. Colin Moore put in a wonderfully consistent shoot to add 14 points to his pb. He had to settle for fourth place but the others should watch their backs going into the Indoor season with Colin in this form.
Things were not so nail-biting in the Recurve division however, Danny Cowin, looking for revenge after his defeat in the Club Championships, had an early miss which effectively put an end to his chances. He did go on to add 64 points to his pb for the round but ended up 42 points adrift of Josh Trafford who looked relaxed throughout the shoot. The seventeen year old Trafford picked up a Six Gold End Badge and added 60 points to his pb for the round as well as picking up the Windsor Trophy for the second year in a row. Barbara Harris put in a solid shoot, adding 3 points to her pb for the round and finished in third place. Dave Berry had an up and down day but finished strongly to take fourth, with Windsor debutante Matt Elliott putting in a decent benchmark score in fifth.
The Junior archers provided the largest field of the day with four out of the six club members shooting the round for the first time. Defending champion Joseph Reaney had to move up a distance because of his age group and shoot a Short Windsor(50/40/30) this year. Joseph struggled with the longest distance and although he finished strongly had to settle for sixth place. Toby Young, James Hill and Tilly Ashton shot a Junior Windsor(40/30/20yds) with Toby adding an amazing 238 points to his pb for the round which secured him second place. James Hill added a terrific 145 points his pb to take third place. Tilly, shooting the round for the first time, took a little while to settle but recorded a decent score to finish in fourth. The youngest archers: Jacob Brookes and Nathan Kinrade shot a Short Junior Windsor(30/20/10yds) for the first time. Nathan only started shooting in the Sunday competitions towards the end of the season but still put in a solid score to take fifth place. Jacob Brookes saw all the hard work he had put in over the season pay off as he had a dream of a shoot to take the Trophy at his first attempt.
Lesley Sleight used the Windsor Trophy shoot as a long bow practice round ahead of GB squad duties in Australia next week.
Results Annual Windsor Trophy: Compound – 1. D.Moore 108/962/103pb, 2. R.Moore 108/960/102, 3. P.Mumford 108/958/101 =pb, 4. C.Moore 108/948/96pb. Recurve – 1. J Trafford 108/906/77pb, 2. D.Cowin 106/864/67pb, 3. B.Harris 107/813/51pb, 4. D.Berry 107/789/42, 5. M.Elliott 107/712/30pb. Junior – 1. J.Brookes 107/885/76pb, 2. T.Young 108/860/52pb, 3. J.Hill 108/826/55pb, 4. T.Ashton 107/735/30pb, 5. N. Kinrade 107/733/31pb, 6. J.Reaney 108/714/30pb.
