Weather reports earlier in the week made it look as though shooting conditions would be difficult in the morning and impossible in the afternoon. With that in mind, IoM Archery Club met to shoot a 720 Round which could be wrapped up in half a day. This involves shooting 72 arrows at a single distance, the range being decided by bow type and age group. Recurve archers shoot over a distance of 70m. Compound archers shoot over a distance of 50m but on a much smaller target face. Josh Trafford shot at a 60m target according to his age group and Joseph Reaney and James Hill shot a Metric V round.

To begin with the weather was quite warm and the winds constant but manageable. After the first dozen arrows the skies darkened, the winds increased and it became quite chilly with the archers donning jackets in between ends. In spite of the conditions Karen Lott, Joy Gough and Sarah Rigby managed to set new personal best scores for the round. Karen added 37 points to her pb, Joy added 22 to hers and Sarah 3. Josh, Joseph and James were shooting their rounds for the first time and did well.
Pete Mumford led from start to finish in the Gent’s Compound division, while Dave Moore appeared to be suffering the after effects of some indulgent living the night before and was nowhere near his best. Likewise the only Senior Recurve archer to shoot, Tony Hartley, never really hit his stride and finished with a score well below his usual high standard. Barbara Harris had a very poor morning which continued her run of lack lustre performances this season.

Also shooting in the morning were John and Carolyn Hirst of Stafford Archers who were holidaying on the island and wished to keep in practice.

Far from worsening, the weather actually improved greatly in the afternoon and a number of archers chose to carry on and shoot the round again. The scores were generally higher with the recurve archers in particular benefiting from the higher temperatures and still conditions. Josh Trafford, Joy Gough, Karen Lott and Barbara Harris all improved significantly upon their scores of the morning. Unfortunately, the first round of the day was the one that counted and the results were as follows:-

720 Round – Gents Compound 1: P. Mumford 72 628 18 2, 2: D. Moore 72 617 15 5. Ladies Compound 1: S. Rigby 72 669 31 18 pb, 2: J. Gough 72 602 16 2 pb. Gents Recurve – T. Hartley 72 478 2 1. Ladies Recurve 1: K. Lott 71 473 5 1 pb, 2: B. Harris 63 349 1 349. Junior Boy’s 60m – J. Trafford 68 417 3 0 pb. Junior Boy’s Metric V 1: J. Reaney  70 523 9 5 pb, 2: J. Hill 69 436 2 0 pb.

Guest Archers Metric V– J. Hirst 71 597 18 7, C. Hirst 70 523 9 5.