Perfect shooting weather greeted the members of the IoM Archery Club who turn up at Greeba on Sunday to shoot a Metric round as part of the Scratch League. The round of the day was a 720; that is 72 arrows shot at a single distance – 70m for Senior Recurve archers, 50m for the Compounds. The younger club members shot the new Junior 720 rounds introduced last month by Archery GB based on age group.

The Gents 50m Compound division provided the largest field of the day with five archers battling it out. Once again Rhys Moore led from start to finish adding 21 points to pb to take the win. Colin Moore ,who has been consistently good throughout the Indoor and Outdoor season, took second place adding 9 points to his pb and Dave Moore, shooting with a new bow for the first time, came in third. It was very tight for fourth and fifth place with Billy Lightfoot finishing just 2 points ahead of Pete Mumford.

Joy Gough was again the only Lady Compound archer. She was a little below her best but still out shot both Billy Lightfoot and Pete Mumford.

In the Gents Recurve division Danny Cowin and Tony Hartley were joined by Invictus Games Gold Medal Archer Matt Elliott, who was shooting the distance for the first time. Danny Cowin took the lead over the first two dozen but Tony Hartley found his rythym to open up a 6 point lead by the end of the third. He went on to win by a clear 20 points. Matt Elliot put in a creditable first attempt score to finish third.

Denyse Hill and Lesley Sleight shot the round for the first time alongside old hand Barbara Harris. As might be expected the more experienced Harris took the lead from the off but things were neck and neck between Denyse and Lesley until the midway point. At the break Lesley had a slim lead and it looked like things would go down to the wire but Denyse was hit by a recurrence of the shoulder injury which had caused her to miss most of the Indoor season. She managed to finish the round but her scores dropped away dramatically and she was disappointed with her final total.

Toby Young, Wiliam Parkes and James Hill shot the new u14 Gents round of 40m. Toby finished a scorching 120 points clear of his nearest rival to set a pb and establish a Club record for the round. The inexperienced William Parkes did well to finish within 4 points of regular shooter James Hill, whose mind seemed to be on his exams rather than on the target.

Tilly Ashton, who took home four trophies and a gold medal at the Indoor Season prize giving on Friday night, established the Club record for u12 Ladies in the 30m event, while Jacob Brookes established the record for the u12 Gents at the same distance.

Results 720 Round – Gents Compound – 1. R.Moore 72/669/28/10pb, 2. C.Moore 72/631/18/4pb, 3. D.Moore 72/623/15/7, 4. B.Lightfoot 72/608/12/4, 5. P.Mumford 70/606/13/2. Ladies Compound – Joy Gough 72/609/15/3. Gents Recurve – 1. T.Hartley 72/484/5/1, 2. D.Cowin 72/464/1, 3. M.Elliott 53/262/2/1. Ladies Recurve – 1. B.Harris 71/457/3/1, 2. L.Sleight 65/306/-pb, 3. D. Hill 46/255/1/1pb. Gents Recurve u14 – 1. T. Young 72/476/6pb NCR, 2. J.Hill 69/356/4/2pb, 3. W.Parkes 63/351/3/1pb. u12 – Jacob Brookes 70/496/6/5pb NCR. Junior Ladies u12 – Tilly Ashton 69/381/1pb NCR.