The Isle of Man Archery Club met on Sunday to compete for the annual Windsor Trophy. The weather was bright and sunny but a crisp wind made conditions both chilly and difficult.

With a large number of members competing off island, the turn-out was low with only thirteen archers contesting for the Trophies. The Windsor Trophy is unusual in that it is divided by bow type alone. This means the gents and ladies compete against one another directly, with the highest scratch score taking the prize. The Windsor is a National round – three dozen arrows shot at each of three distances: 60, 50 and 40yds for the Seniors and 40, 30 and 20yds for the Juniors.

There were only three archers in the compound division; Joy Gough, Pete Mumford and Colin Moore. It was very close over the first distance with only 2 points separating Pete Mumford in first place and Colin Moore in second. Joy was a further 8 points behind Colin at that stage. From that point however Mumford began to dominate and came out the winner by twenty points. Gough shot a relaxed round to overhaul Moore and take second place. All three archers struggled with the tricky wind conditions and none of them was anywhere near their best for the round.

The largest field of the day came in the Senior Recurve division with seven archers vying to lift the silverware. Danny Cowin and guest archer Thomas Bott were both shooting the round for the first time. Junior archers Josh Trafford and Charlotte Harris were also promoted to the senior ranks for the first time to allow the newer Junior members to have a fair chance at the Junior Windsor Trophy. Both Josh and Charlotte, who was also struggling with earache, found the conditions tricky and neither was particularly happy with their performance. Barbara Harris effectively ended her chances in the first dozen arrows by recording a miss. Danny Cowin struggled to find his range over 60yds but finished strongly, which left Thomas Bott, Karen Lott and Tony Hartley as the only archers in contention. After the first distance it was Thomas who had the lead, Karen was 12 points behind him with Tony a further 12 points behind her. At the 50yd distance Karen really began to hit her stride just as Thomas lost some form and he saw his 12 point lead turn into a 22 point deficit. Tony Hartley finished very strongly but it was too little too late. Karen Lott, in spite of hitting a 1 with her last arrow, added a terrific 88 points to her pb and claimed victory by a clear 26 points to continue her brilliant outdoor season.

The Junior Windsor Trophy was contested by James Hill, Toby Young and Jack Tyrer. Jack was the only one of the three to have shot the round before. James had only shot the 40yd distance for the first time during the practice on Thursday and Jack’s greater experience quickly showed as he opened up a 35 point lead over the first distance. Tyrer really began to find his form over the next two distances adding 101 points to his pb and taking the win by a margin of 73 points from James Hill. James however managed a 6 gold end during the competition for which he can claim a badge.

Results Windsor Trophy: Senior Compound – 1. Pete Mumford 108 944 95, 2. Joy Gough 108 924 84, 3. Colin Moore 108 912 80. Senior Recurve 1. Karen Lott 108 846 58pb, 2. Thomas Bott 108 820 46pb, 3. Tony Hartley 107 805 45, 4. Danny Cowin 108 802 45pb, 5. Barbara Harris 106 766 39, 6. Josh Trafford 108 714 27pb, 7. Charlotte Harris 107 703 29pb. Junior Windsor Trophy: 1. Jack Tyrer 108 754 63pb, 2. James Hill 102 681 39pb, 3. Toby Young 101, 599 19.