The IoM Archery Club met at Greeba on Sunday to shoot a National Round as part of the Club’s Scratch League. The handful of archers who turned up were treated to arctic weather conditions during the morning session, with a stiff breeze blowing from left to right.

In the Gents Compound Division Dave and Rhys Moore shot a York which was the designated round for the day. The York round consists of 6 dozen arrows at 100 yards, 4 dozen at 80 yards and 2 dozen at 60 yards. Dave Moore seemed to be having ongoing issues with his new bow. Rhys meanwhile made light of the conditions to record a Master Bowman equivalent score and take the win by a margin of 92 points.

Recurve archers Josh Trafford, Dave Berry and Danny Cowin also shot the round of the day. Both Dave Berry and Josh Trafford were shooting the round for the first time. Dave was somewhat off the pace but the competition was tighter between Josh and Danny. Low scoring arrows and three misses in the first two dozen arrows by Trafford handed Cowin a 47 point lead. Josh then found some form as Danny began to struggle. Josh had cut the deficit to 9 points going into the final dozen at 100 yards but suddenly began to struggle again managing to hit the target with only eight of his last twelve arrows allowing Danny to open up the lead to 24 points. The margin would have been greater but for the fact that Danny missed with three of his own arrows in the final dozen. The sun came out after lunch and for a while shooting conditions were quite pleasant. Josh Trafford made the most of things and took 10 points out of Danny’s lead at the second distance. He took another 4 points off Cowin at the final distance but Danny held on to record his first win of the season.

Joy Gough, shooting Compound, was the only women to shoot the round of the day which for her was a Hereford. This is the same in format as the York but the distances are 80, 60 and 50 yards. Joy put in a solid score given the conditions but was some way short of her personal best.

Pete Mumford, who was still breaking in his new bow, elected to shoot a Bristol I round which is exactly the same as a Hereford but is given a name change when men shoot it. Pete shot averagely over the 80 yards distance but was beginning get a feel for his the new bow in the afternoon session and was pleased with his progress.

The three other archers who showed up just for the morning session were: Joseph Reaney who shot a Short National for the first time (4 dozen arrows at 50y and 2 dozen at 40y), Colin Moore who shot a New National (4 dozen at 100y and 2 dozen at 80y), and Matt Elliot who also shot a Short National for the first time.

Tilly Ashton was the only junior to shoot for the full day. Tilly shot the round for her age group a Bristol V (30y, 20y and 10y with the same 6:4:2 split). Between ends she sat huddled up under a blanket in an effort to keep warm, but she only recorded two misses on the day and did not drop a single point at the final distance.

The archers were joined in the afternoon session by Barbara Harris and juniors Toby Young and Jacob Brookes. Harris shot a National round (4 dozen at 60y and 2 at 50y) and whilst not happy with her performance she did add 80 points to her pb for the round. Toby Young added 18 points to his pb for the Junior National and Jacob Brookes also recorded a pb for the Short Junior National he shot.

Results: York – Gents Compound - 1. R.Moore 144/1214/104, 2. D.Moore 144/1122/49. Gents Recurve – 1. D.Cowin 139/817/28, 2. J.Trafford 137/807/29pb, 3. D.Berry 132/686/17pb. Hereford Ladies Compound – Joy Gough 144/1148/84. Bristol I – P.Mumford 144/1176/92. Junior Girls Bristol V – T. Ashton 142/986/53pb. New National – C.Moore 71/486/19. Short National – Gents Recurve Matt Elliott 70/402/12pb. National Ladies Recurve – B.Harris 72/560/23pb. Junior Gents Recurve – Short National J.Reaney 72/478/21pb. Junior National T.Young 72/532/33pb. Short Junior National J.Brookes 72/457/17pb.