The Annual IoM Archery Club Championships took place at Onchan on Sunday. The Seniors competed on a WA18 Triple Face in the morning session, while the Juniors shot on a Portsmouth single face in the afternoon. Shooting positions were determined by the drawing of lots.

With Dave Moore away enjoying his retirement, the Gents Compound Trophy was contested for by Rhys Moore, Pete Mumford and Colin Moore. At the end of the first dozen Rhys had a one point lead over Colin with Pete a further five points back. Pete Mumford, who was struggling with the effects of a heavy cold, shot solidly and managed to overhaul Colin to finish in second place but Rhys was never in any danger of being caught. Rhys Moore finished sixteen points ahead of his closest rival to lift the Gents Compound Trophy at the first attempt.

Joy Gough once again found herself without any direct competition and was unhappy with her performance which included two misses but the Trophy naturally was hers.

Lesley Sleight was also the only competitor in the Ladies Bare bow division. Lesley seems to break Club records every time she shoots and this was no exception as she added twenty-four points to the record she set last week to take the Trophy which has not been contested for a number of years.

The competition for the Gents Recurve Trophy provided the largest field of the day with novices Alex Parkes and John Hill joining the more experienced Tony Hartley, Dave Berry, Danny Cowin and Josh Trafford. At the end of the first dozen the fight for the trophy appeared to be between Danny Cowin and Josh Trafford who had just one point between them. Defending Champion Tony Hartley had a nightmare start, recording a miss with his ninth arrow. Danny Cowin then recorded a miss in the second dozen. Josh Trafford just kept finding the target and turned a one point deficit into a nine point lead over Tony Hartley who had leap-frogged into second place. From then on sixteen year old Josh Trafford stamped his authority on proceedings, opening out a large lead which not even an eleventh hour miss could overturn. Josh ran out the winner by 28 points. Danny Cowin regained second place after Tony Hartley had another miss, only to miss again himself in the next dozen to hand it back to Tony, who kept it until the end. Dave Berry finished in fourth with Alex Parkes and John Hill finishing in fifth and sixth respectively.

The Ladies Recurve was a straight face off between mother and daughter Barbara and Charlotte Harris. Neither of the Harris’ were in particularly good form, with Barbara recovering from flu and Charlotte exhausted by school work and household duties arising from both of her parents being ill at the same time. In the end it was a close competition. Charlotte took the lead after the first dozen but then had a miss in the second dozen which handed the lead back to her mother. Barbara clung onto the lead in spite of having a miss of her own. Charlotte then recorded another miss but still out scored Barbara for the fourth dozen which meant that the scores were tied going into the final dozen arrows. Unfortunately Barbara then recorded her second miss of the day, while Charlotte’s aim remained true and another title went to a sixteen year old.

Tilly Ashton was the only girl in the Juniors tournament in the afternoon and so lifted the Junior Ladies Trophy at the first attempt but she did it in style by recording a new personal best score for the round.

The Junior Boys had a field of four, Jacob Brookes, Wiliam Parkes, Aaron Pannell-Cottier and Joseph Reaney, with Joseph being the only one to have shot in the Club Championships before. Experienced told and Joseph won his age group and the overall Junior Gents Trophy. Aaron Pannell-Cottier shot well to finish second overall. William Parkes finished in third place and Jacob Brookes finished fourth. The u13 Trophy went to Tilly Ashton and the u11 Trophy to Jacob Brookes.

Results Club Championships: Gents Compound – 1.R. Moore 60/565/25, 2.P.Mumford 60/549/10, 3.C. Moore 60/543/15. Ladies Compound – J. Gough 58/517/6. Ladies Bare bow – L. Sleight 60/451/4(NCR). Gents Recurve – 1.J. Trafford 59/520/17, 2.T. Hartley 58/492/12, 3.D. Cowin 58/489/15, 4.D. Berry 57/465/10, 5. A.Parkes 41/319/5, 6.J. Hill 42/309/1. Ladies Recurve – 1.C. Harris 58/495/13, 2.B. Harris 58/484/13. Junior Girls Champion – Tilly Ashton 60/491/8pb. Junior Boys – 1.J. Reaney 59/436/7, 2.A. Pannell-Cottier 59/419/4, 3.W. Parkes 57/411/8, 4.J. Brookes 56/330/4.

Also shooting was ex-soldier Matt Elliot who was practising a Bare bow Portsmouth ahead of a competition to qualify for the Invictus Games. His score of 59/467/11 was a personal best for the round.