After being postponed from the week before, the annual Windsor Trophy was held at Greeba on Sunday. The Windsor comprises of 3 dozen arrows shot at each of three distances – 60/50 and 40 yards, with 5 zone scoring (9/7/5/3/1) - a maximum of 324 points per distance. There were three trophies up for grabs – Compound, Recurve and Junior, with the highest score in each division taking the prize, the ladies and gentlemen of the club being in direct competition with each other. The Junior archers shot distances appropriate to their age group. With the end of the season fast approaching, the decision was taken to hold the Windsor whatever the weather. Waterproofs were the order of the day as the drizzle of the first hour reduced the target faces to pulp and they tore away from the pins. At one point only a wayward arrow of Danny’s was holding his target in place.
In the Compound division defending champion Dave Moore lined up against Simon Musgrove, Pete Mumford, Joy Gough and Rhys Moore. Joy Gough did not enjoy the damp conditions and found her wet weather gear hampered her shoot. As the conditions improved so did her scores but she had to settle for fifth place. Pete Mumford, a shining example of a good club archer, enjoyed another relaxed shoot to finish in fourth. Simon Musgrove put in a solid shoot and added 40 points to his pb for the round to finish third. With Billy Lightfoot a no show, the fight for the Trophy was between Dave and Rhys Moore and it could not have been tighter. By the end of the first distance both men were tied on 318 apiece having each dropped just 6 points. Dave and Rhys then maxed the next distance to remain tied going into the final three dozen. It had been decided by the Records Officer that in the event of a tie, the outcome would be decided by a one arrow shoot off, the need for which looked increasingly likely as they reached the shortest distance. Both men maxed the first 6 arrows. In the very next end however, a momentary lapse in concentration saw Dave Moore drop an arrow into the 7 zone and, in spite of applying a great deal of psychological warfare, had to watch helplessly as Rhys maxed out with his remaining arrows to take the title by 2 points.
Danny Cowin turned up with the expectation of an easy victory with only Barbara Harris and Carl Moon for competition, but found that Dave Berry had put in a special guest appearance after being out for most of the season due to illness. Carl Moon who was shooting the round for the first time made a decent start to proceedings, which was more than could be said for Barbara Harris. Finding it impossible to shoot in her jacket and being fond of rain, Harris ditched the waterproof but still registered 2 misses at the first distance which effectively ended her chances. Dave Berry, who was given sight marks for the first two distances by Danny Cowin as he did not have any, also had a miss with an early arrow but recovered well. Danny, who seemed unusually tense, started slowly but managed to build a 9 point lead over Dave.
At this point the weather improved and Harris sportingly delivered a bit of advice and encouragement to Danny Cowin, which was graciously received. Oddly enough Danny’s form took a dip at 50 yards, while Barbara recorded a pb for the distance to overhaul Carl and eventually finish in third place for the second year running. Dave Berry’s guest appearance meanwhile had become a star turn after shedding his waterproof and freeing up his shoulders. Barbara’s earnest entreaty for Danny to do likewise was ignored, and Dave turned the 9 point deficit into a 7 point lead. Finally seeing sense Danny took to the line minus his wind cheater and the improvement was immediate. He maxed two of the ends and posted three consecutive dozen totals of over a hundred to lift the Trophy for the first time to cap a memorable season. A visibly tired Dave Berry, gutsed it out to the end to record a new pb for the round and take second place.
The Junior Trophy was a three way contest between Toby Young, defending champion Jacob Brookes and u14 UK Masters Champion Tilly Ashton. Jacob shot a Junior Windsor (40/30/20y) for the first time which guaranteed him a pb for the round, but his exceptional shooting also saw him break the u14 Boys Club Record by 24 points. Tilly by contrast struggled over the day but she persevered to finish only 7 points down on her pb. The day however belonged to Toby Young who shot a Short Windsor (50/40/30y) for the first time and smashed the Club Record by 117 points to lift the Trophy.
Results Windsor Trophy – Compound: 1.R.Moore 108/966/105=pb, 2.D.Moore 108/964/104pb, 3.S.Musgrove 108/948/96pb, 4.P.Mumford 108/938/91, 5.J.Gough 108/912/80. Recurve: 1.D.Cowin 108/846/56, 2.D.Berry 107/837/57pb, 3.106/804/49, 4.C.Moon 106/768/35pb. Junior Windsor: 1.T.Young (S.Windsor) 107/831/50 NCR,pb, 2.J.Brookes (J.Windsor) 105/815/60 NCR,pb, 3.T.Ashton (J.Windsor) 106/728/33.
