There was an excellent turnout at Onchan on Sunday with some archers forced to shoot three to a boss. Of the twenty-four archers who shot over the course of the day, twelve managed to achieve personal best scores for their respective rounds. The round of the day was a Vegas for the adults and a Portsmouth 3 spot for the juniors, shot as part of the Club’s Handicap League. The scratch scores are subjected to the archer’s individual handicap and adjusted accordingly by means of a set of fiendishly complicated tables. If an archer shoots exactly to his/her handicap they will score 1440 points after adjustment. Anything above or below this gives a good indication of how well an individual is doing.
The battle for scratch honours in the Gents Compound was the usual three way between Pete Mumford and Dave and Rhys Moore. Once again Rhys teased the opposition by dropping a couple of 8’s into the mix but still managed to win by 9 points. Pete Mumford stood in third place every step of the way but managed to square things over the last dozen arrows. On countback of 10’s Pete took second place from Dave Moore by virtue of 18 golds to 13. After the handicap was applied however, Rhys finished 7th, Dave 8th and Pete 10th.
In the Gents Recurve, Danny Cowin once more radiated positive energy alongside Eric Lutes, Matt Elliot, Dave Berry and James Aldridge. Danny took the scratch honours and added 159 points to his pb in the process. This was not as impressive as it sounds considering he had only shot the Vegas once before when he first joined the Club back in 2012. After handicapping Danny’s score was only good enough for 11th place. Dave Berry, perhaps a little distracted by shooting alongside his wife for the first time, not to mention his two nieces, did not shoot particularly well. Eric Lutes seemed to be suffering the torments of the damned on Sunday and the fact that he added 36 points to his pb for what is the hardest round to shoot was of no consolation to him. Neither Matt Elliot nor newcomer James Aldridge had shot the round before but both men did well, with James securing 2nd place after the handicap was applied and Matt taking 3rd place overall. Greg Altham also shot the Vegas but as Greg has just joined the Club after a three year break from shooting he will need to re-establish a handicap. His opening score of 491 was a good start.
Joy Gough put in another solid round which saw her finish in 9th. Recurver Barbara Harris put in yet another uneven shoot. Just when it appeared she had sorted out the problems with her form she recorded two misses which dropped her down towards the bottom of the table. Trad Bow wielder Lesley Sleight gamely had a go at the Vegas, a feat which no other archer has ever attempted and her score of 291 is therefore a New Club Record.
Tilly Ashton joined fellow juniors Toby Young, Jacob Brookes James Hill, Nathan Kinrade and Bethany Aldridge to shoot a Portsmouth three spot. After a shaky start, Tilly settled down to add 48 points to her pb for the round. Jacob was doing well until he had two misses in the fourth dozen. James Hill was very focused as he shot the round for the first time and was very unlucky not to break 500. Given Toby Young’s amazing run of form it was not surprising that he would take the scratch honours with a score that was over 50 points better than his nearest rival. Toby added 38 points to his pb for the round and was only 5 points off the Club Record. The day however, belonged to little Bethany Aldridge who was shooting the round for the first time. Having only shot the large single face Portsmouth before, Bethany screwed up her courage to give the three spot a go. Beth bounced back from a rocky start to shoot well beyond her handicap to take the overall win.
Colin Moore elected to shoot a Barebow Portsmouth round and added 14 points to his pb.
Results 3 spot Handicap – 1.B.Aldridge 1547 (38/271/2)pb, 2.J.Aldridge 1468 (36/282/4)pb, 3.M.Elliott 1445 (55/448/5)pb, 4.J.Hill 1444 (59/499/11)pb, 5.T.Young 1438 (60/552/26)pb, 6.D.Berry 1432 (59/471/7), 7.R.Moore 1430 (60/561/23), 8.D.Moore 1427 (60/552/13), 9.J.Gough 1425 (60/540/14), 10.P.Mumford 1424 (60/552/18), 11.D.Cowin 1418 (59/508/14), 12. J.Brooks 1408 (58/462/7), =12.B.Harris 1408 (58/489/11), 14,T.Ashton 1406 (56/461/8)pb, 15.N.Kinrade 1404 (47/376/5), 16.E.Lutes 1382 (36/263/2)pb, 17.L.Sleight 1370 (40/291/3)pb,NCR.
Also shooting: Portsmouth- Gents Recurve – 1.D.Hicks 60/439/5, 2.P.Howland 60/389/2. Gents Barebow – C.Moore 60/521/16pb. Ladies Recurve – 1.J.Berry 59/346/1pb, 2.S.Luker 58/316/4. Junior Girls – LJ.Priestnal 60/404/2pb. LJ added a terrific 114 points to her pb for the round.
