Twenty archers braved the inclement weather to shoot at the Onchan Hub on Sunday. The round of the day was a WA18 shot as part of the Club’s Scratch League. It is the least liked of all the Indoor rounds and there were mixed fortunes for those involved.
With Dave Moore still trying to shake off a chest infection, there was a straight face off between Pete Mumford and Rhys Moore in the Gents Compound division. It was a pretty close contest with both men hitting more 9’s than they would have liked. After the halfway break Pete began to dip into the 8 zone a little too often but Rhys simply could not find his way into the 10’s and he only had a 4 point lead going into the final dozen. Moore suddenly found the focus he had been missing and finally found the centre, rattling off his best dozen total of the morning. Mumford finished strongly but it was not enough, and Rhys came out the winner by 9 points.
Lone Lady Compounder Joy Gough did not have a good morning, a lose sight arm put a dent in her score and although Joy rallied after the problem was identified the damage had already been done.
The largest field of the day came once again in the Gents Recurve division with five men taking on the challenge. Danny Cowin growled his way through an uneven shoot towards his inevitable victory. Unhappy with his performance as ever Cowin was the only Recurve archer to break the 500 barrier and finished 34 points clear of his nearest rival. Dave Berry, who still seems to be struggling with the extra poundage on his bow, slotted into second place with a score that was no where near his best. Eric Lutes added 35 points to his pb to finish third but was less than thrilled with his performance. Peter Howland added 44 points to his pb to secure fourth place, while David Smith had to settle for fifth.Colin Moore shooting Barebow seemed a little out of practice and finished with a score that was well below his best. Ralph Mitchell shot his first Portsmouth round for handicap purposes and was delighted to keep all of his arrows on target.
Jane Berry and Barbara Harris lined up in the Ladies Recurve. Harris hadn’t shot a decent WA18 round all season and Sunday’s effort did nothing to break the pattern. Jane seemed to be having some difficulty getting her arrows through the clicker but she still managed to improve on her pb though not by as many as Dave Berry’s questionable maths first indicated. Lesley Sleight was in action with her Tradbow again, but she still seemed a little low on confidence.
In the afternoon session the Juniors turned up to try their hand at the round. The normally on fire Toby Young couldn’t find the spark to ignite his performance at the weekend. A miss in the first dozen was indicative of a sub-par outing that Toby was at a loss to explain but his score was still good enough for the win. James Hill was hampered by equipment problems which Pete Mumford managed to resolve in between ends, and James finished strongly to take second place. Jacob Brookes shooting his old bow for the last time was well off the pace in third and Nathan Kinrade had too many misses to be in contention. Tilly Ashton
added an excellent 35 points to her pb for the round to take the win in the Junior Ladies, while little sister Lily shot the round for the first time.
The afternoon session also saw Barbara Harris attempt the Rhubarb Challenge alongside Pete Mumford. Pete was shooting his second round of the Challenge but failed to improve upon his score. Barbara was keeping her promise to Rhys Moore to have a go after her scathing criticism of his performance in the Rhubarb. Harris’s only goal was to beat Rhys’s score, while Rhys did everything he could to put her off. Barbara managed to equal her club mate’s score with 18 arrows left to shoot but her final total was on the pitiful side. Rhys still has time to shoot a second round to try and avoid the wooden spoon.
Results WA18 – Gents Compound – 1.R.Moore 60/562/23, 2.P.Mumford 60/553/18. Ladies Compound – J.Gough 60/530/11. Gents Recurve – 1.D.Cowin 60/524/20, 2.D.Berry 60/490/12, 3.E.Lutes 60/415/3pb, 4.P.Howland 59/401/3pb, 5.D.Smith 56/330/3. Gents Barebow – C.Moore 59/404/1. Ladies Recurve – 1.B.Harris 60/467/9, 2.J.Berry 60/455/3pb. Ladies Tradbow – L.Sleight 60/384/1. Junior Gents – 1.T.Young 59/483/9, 2.J.Hill 60/422/4, 3.J.Brookes 60/375/2, 4.N.Kinrade 54/330/4. Junior Ladies 1.T.Ashton 60/457/35pb, L.J.Priestnal 49/243/0pb.
