Last weekend ten archers from the IOM Archery Club competed in the Lancashire Indoor Championships held at Preston.
This was a UK Record Status Portsmouth which is a 60 arrow round shot from 20 yards at a 60 cm target face with compound archers shooting at a vertical three-spot target. There were varying degrees of success but once again the Compound archers showed their strength. Both Sarah Rigby and Dave Moore took the early lead in their classes. However Dave dropped off his high-scoring pace in the third dozen, and although he finished with a personal best, his total score of 563 was just outside the score for a podium place. Sarah dominated the Ladies Compound from the first dozen putting in a 119 (out of 120) for her first dozen arrows which gave her a six point lead over her nearest rival. She continued to lead until the end of the fourth dozen by which time her rival had fought back and went one point up going into the final dozen. Upon hearing this, Sarah pulled out all the stops and shot a final dozen of 116 against her opponent’s 113 which meant that Sarah’s total score of 575 put her in 1st place in the Ladies Compound Open Class with the highest ladies score of the day. Peter Mumford on the other hand had a slower start, but once again his consistent scoring throughout the final four dozen arrows saw him claw his way up the leaderboard and he finished in 4th place with a score of 570 in the Gents Compound Open competition. Also shooting compound, and using his new Hoyt bow for the first time off-Island, Billy Lightfoot shot a personal best score putting in a creditable score of 556 for the round.
In the recurve ladies division, Barbara Harris (who had escaped from family duties for the weekend) shot a great score of 540 which was just below her personal best for the round, and although she got onto the leaderboard in 2nd place by the end of the fourth dozen, her final score was just below the total required for a podium place. Karen Lott also shot the round and was very satisfied with putting in a score of 510 which is her best score for this round this season. The gents recurve scores were lead by Matt Smith, in his first off-Island competition competing for the Club. who shot 515 and he was followed by Adrian Breed and Rhys Moore who both finished on exactly the same score of 493 with 14 golds each although Rhys recorded less hits.
All archers are now in serious training for the National Indoor Championships which will be held in Coventry at the beginning of December.
Scores:
Compound
Sarah Rigby 60 hits, 575 scored, 35 golds
Peter Mumford 60 hits, 570 scored, 30 golds
Dave Moore 60 hits, 563 scored, 25 golds PB
Billy Lightfoot 60 hits, 556 scored, 21 golds PB
Recurve
Barbara Harris 60 hits, 540 scored, 19 golds
Karen Lott 60 hits, 510 scored, 12 golds
Matt Smith 60 hits, 515 scored, 14 golds
Adrian Breed 60 hits, 493 scored, 14 golds
Rhys Moore 57 hits, 493 scored, 14 golds
Back home at Onchan, archers shot a handicap 3-spot Fita Competition. As usual there was healthy competition between the two George sisters, with the honours once again going to Aalin, although Kirsten is working hard to chase Aalin’s score every week. Also shooting compound was Colin Moore in the gents division. The recurve archers this week were Tony Hartley shooting his mongol bow and newcomer Bod Boland, who now has established a starting handicap having shot three competition rounds and set up a personal best score for the round. The scratch scores were as follows (handicap ratings will be assessed):
Compound
Aalin George 60 hits, 568 scored, 28 golds
Kirsten George 60 hits, 556 scored, 21 golds
Colin Moore 60 hits, 533 scored, 13 golds
Recurve
Bod Boland 57 hits, 374 scored, 3 golds PB
Tony Hartley (barebow) 54 hits, 296 scored, 1 gold
Shooting resumes the normal pattern next Sunday at Onchan meeting at 10 am for a 10.30 start and 1.30 pm for a 2 pm start.
The round will be a Portsmouth with the Junior archers shooting the November Challenge postal round.
