The Isle of Man Archery Club sent a contingent of archers to the UK National Championships at the weekend. The event was held at the Ricoh Stadium in Coventry and attracted a large number of entrants including national squads from England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
The Junior Championships were held on Saturday with over 300 entrants shooting in three separate details over the day. The Junior Championships were decided on a Portsmouth round: 60 arrows shot at a distance of 20 yards. The Recurve archers shooting into a single full face target and the Compound archers tackling the smaller three spot target.
Ranked #1 and #2 respectively in the UK Junior listings, expectations were high for sisters Aalin and Kirsten George. In the U18 category Aalin shot a little below her best and had to be content with the silver medal, just 1 point behind fellow GB squad member Sophie Brown. In the U16 division Kirsten was unhappy with her performance but her total of 568 saw her lift the trophy.
Competing for the first time at the Nationals, Charlotte Harris, Bradley Layton and Adam Wright had mixed fortunes. Bradley began slowly but found his rhythm and put in a score of 523 only 2 points below his personal best. This put him in 17th place in the U16 category. Adam Wright on the other hand started well but then faded slightly and was unhappy with his total of 475, a score well below his normally high standard. Charlotte Harris started strongly in the U14 Girls division before suffering a slight dip in concentration during the third dozen arrows. She recovered however to post a personal best score of 523 which put her into 4th place and made her the most successful of the IoM junior recurve archers.
The Senior Tournament took place on the Sunday. This was a Fita 18 three spot target for both Recurve and Compound archers alike, with the top 32 archers in each discipline progressing to a head to head knockout round to decide the medals.
Experienced Compound archers Pete Mumford, Joy Gough, Sarah Rigby and the George sisters were joined by first timer Dave Moore. From these only Sarah Rigby and Aalin and Kirsten George made the cut for the head to head rounds. Kirsten went out in the first of these rounds, whilst Sarah and Aalin went out in the second round. All three were rather disappointed with their performances.
All four of the Islands Recurve archers were making their first appearance at the UK Nationals and nerves took their toll on the performances. Misses were recorded by all of the archers. In the Gents division Matt Smith did the best out of the IoM Club archers with a score of 467, followed by Rhys Moore on 366 and Adrian Breed on 303. None of them made the made the cut. Lone female Recurve archer Barbara Harris fared slightly better. A miss in the first six arrows perversely settled her nerves and she shot well until the last dozen where she recorded another miss. In spite of this however she recorded a personal best score of 523. This put her through to the head to head round in 16th place. Never having shot in a head to head round before, Barbara found herself standing dry mouthed on the shooting line to face a member of the Scotland National Squad. A close fought match saw Harris take the victory 6-4 and progress to the second round. Here however, Barbara encountered Becky Martin, winner of the previous day’s U18 Trophy, who beat her 6-0. Becky then went on to win the tournament defeating British Olympian Naomi Folkard in the final. Harris was delighted with her first outing and is sure there is room for improvement in the future.
Scores: Juniors - Compound U18 Girls Aalin George 60 574 34(silver medallist). U16 Kirsten George 60 568 28(Title Winner). Recurve Gents-U18 Adam Wright 60 475 3. U16 Bradley Layton 60 523 20 (17th) Girls U14 Charlotte Harris 60 523 21 (4th).
Seniors - Compound Gents: Pete Mumford 60 555 20, Dave Moore 59 552 22. Compound Ladies Sarah Rigby 60 566 26 (last 16), Aalin George 60 562 22 (last 16), Kirsten George 59 544 20 (last 32), Joy Gough 60 539 8. Gents Recurve: Matt Smith 56 467 7, Rhys Moore 45 366 12, Adrian Breed 43 303 1. Ladies Recurve: Barbara Harris 58 523 20 (last 16).
