At last IoM Archery Club got a break in the weather and was able to put in a full day’s shooting. Conditions were close and heavy but there was little wind and shooting was straight forward. Club members shot a variety of Metric rounds as part of the Scratch League.

Father and son Dave and Rhys Moore faced off in the WA1440 (90/70/50/30m) round with Rhys taking the honours with ease. Dave seemed to be having equipment problems with an improperly aligned cam throwing the arrows out to one side. He may have to revert to his old bow ahead of the Club Championships in a couple of weeks.

Pete Mumford shot a Metric I (70/60/50/30m) and was beginning to show a real return to form after struggling with a shoulder problem during the Indoor Season.

Joy Gough, shooting a Ladies WA1440 (70/60/50/30m), found her arrows were going low in the heavy conditions and was not pleased to have two misses at the 50m distance.

Danny Cowin was also unhappy with his performance but he still put in a season’s best score for the Gents WA1440 in the Recurve division.

Barbara Harris bookended her shoot with misses at the longest and shortest distances which meant she fell short of another Bowman equivalent score by 7 points.

Junior archers Toby Young and James Hill also put in full day’s work shooting a Metric III. Toby added 69 points to his pb to take the win, while James fell just 1 point short of his pb in second place. The fourteen misses he recorded cost him dearly but a little more focus on maintaining his body shape through the shot would rectify the problem.

Elsewhere Club Member’s Tilly Ashton and Josh Trafford travelled to England to shoot in the National Junior Championships at Lilleshall. Josh had mixed results; competing in the WA1440 on Saturday, effectively shooting a distance up on his age group, he finished 5th overall and 3rd in the U18 category. Unfortunately Josh had to pull out of the following day’s National round due to fatigue.

Tilly Ashton, competing at the Nationals for the first time, had a terrific weekend. Saturday’s Metric V round saw her add 4 points to her pb to finish 10th in U12 Girls Recurve. She gained her 1100 Red Cross Award and set a New Club Record into the bargain.

Sunday’s National round was even better with Tilly adding a stunning 168 points to her pb for the Bristol V to finish in 8th place in her age group. She also gained her 6 Gold End Badge and her 1100 Rose Award. Her total of 1154 also broke the Club Record previously held by Aalin George by 33 points.

Results: Gents Compound – WA1440 1. R.Moore 144/1298/54/26, 2. D.Moore 144/1226/31/9. Long Metric – C.Moore 72/566/11/3. Metric I – P.Mumford 144/1278/46/18. Ladies Compound – WA1440 J.Gough 142/1212/37/18. Gents Recurve – WA1440 D.Cowin 143/1020/12/1. Long Metric T.Hartley 68/395/3/2. Ladies Recurve B.Harris 142/1030/13/5. Junior Gents Recurve – Metric III 1. T.Young 142/986/11/5pb, 2. J.Hill 130/736/4/3. Short Metric III J.Brookes 70/478/7/2.

Junior Nationals Lilleshall - Josh Trafford WA1440 - 144/1014/17/4.

Tilly Ashton Metric V 143/1142/22/8 pb, NCR. Bristol V 144/1154/86 pb, NCR.