The thirteen archers who turned up at Greeba on Sunday were treated to a glorious summer’s day. Conditions were absolutely perfect but a post TT flatness seemed to pervade the shoot. The round of the day was a WA 1440 shot as part of the Club’s Handicap League, with the juniors and novices tackling rounds suited to their age and ability.
Unable to access the field during TT fortnight everyone was a little lacking in practice and with some archers having done marshalling duties, fatigue had set in. Veteran Pete Mumford felt it in his legs and aging juvenile Danny Cowin seemed to be feeling it everywhere. Danny certainly seemed to be in snooze mode over the first couple of distances and didn’t hit his stride until the afternoon by which time it was too late. After handicapping he finished in last place.
In the Gents Compound Rhys and Dave Moore lined up alongside Pete Mumford. After back to back weekends of competition in England, including the Masters Invitational at Lilleshall, and a solid twelve hours in the Hooded Ram beer tent on Senior Race day, Rhys would have been forgiven for feeling a little tired. Instead he took the scratch honours with ease finishing 58 points ahead of his nearest rival and falling just short of his pb. He even had enough energy left over to mock the Records Officer’s ancestry, a dangerous pastime that will come back to bite him. Dave Moore unaccountably had a miss at the shortest distance to hand second place to Pete Mumford who, although tired, kept all of his arrows on target. After handicapping Rhys came in fourth, Pete fifth and Dave seventh. Lone lady Compounder Joy Gough had a roller coaster of a day. After winging an arrow into the 2 in her first dozen arrows, she fought her way back to post a decent score at the halfway stage, only to throw it away again by putting an arrow into the wrong target at 50m. A second miss at the same distance effectively put paid to her hopes of a good score but she finished sixth after the handicap was applied.
In the Ladies Recurve Barbara Harris also had her ups and downs, with average 70 and 50m scores but decent 60 and 30m ones which allowed her to break the 1000 barrier and put her just ahead of Danny Cowin after handicapping. Jane Berry had another excellent day in the field adding 65 points to her pb for the round and taking first place by a considerable margin after the handicap was applied.
Peter Howland also improved on his pb for the Metric II although his continuing struggle with form saw him send 21 arrows into the grass and relegated him to eleventh place overall.
Little Lily Priestnal, sporting her newly acquired Six Gold End Badge, had to quit at the halfway stage due to tiredness but her pb at the Long Metric V put her in second place after handicapping. Jacob Brookes put in a slightly erratic performance in the Short Metric III to finish ninth overall. Toby Young, sporting a suntanned face and incredibly white legs, continued to break in his new bow and finished in tenth.
Eric Lutes and Ralf Mitchell faced off in a Short Metric round with Eric taking the scratch honours. After the handicap was applied however their situations were reversed with Ralf finishing in third and Eric having to settle for eighth.
Results Greeba Metric Handicap – 1.J.Berry 1544 (139/977/9/0)pb, 2.L.Priestnal 1472 (72/614/12/4)pb, 3.R.Mitchell 1465 (57/345/1/0), 4.R.Moore 1429 (144/1335/64/17), 5.P.Mumford 1411 (144/1277/41/9), 6.J.Gough 1402 (142/1234/39/16), 7.D.Moore 1398 (143/1269/50/7), 8.E.Lutes 1389 (70/413/3/0), 9.J.Brookes 1370 (72/514/8/5) 10.T.Young 1365 (67/442/3/1), 11.P.Howland 1358 (123/717/6/0)pb, 12.B.Harris 1356 (142/1025/12/2), 13.D.Cowin 1309 (143/970/11/5).
