There was a terrific turn out for the IoMAC Junior Championships on Sunday with eight children vying for the available titles. The children shot a Metric round based on age group, with boys and girls shooting against each other. The weather was lovely but a tricky breeze blew up intermittently which caught some archers unawares.

Megan Noon and Joseph Reaney faced off in the u18 category. Megan always turns up for the Junior Championships even though other commitments prevent her from competing on a regular basis. Joseph had had a break from shooting due to exam pressures and was rather out of practice. Both had misses at the first distance but Joseph was the more consistent and had an advantage of 46 points by the half way stage. At the second distance however, Joseph’s lack of practice began to show as he tired in the heat, while at the same time Megan found her rhythm and began to carve chunks out of his lead. The contest went right down to the wire and going into the last dozen arrows Megan was only 3 points behind. At the end of the shoot it appeared that Megan had taken the win by just one point but after checking the score sheets the Records Officer found a mistake had been made in the addition and in fact Joseph Reaney had manged to hold off the challenge and take the title by 4 points.

In u14 category old hands James Hill and Toby Young were joined by Luke Kenna in what was his first Championship and only his second Sunday competition. Luke had a number of misses over the first distance when the wind was at its worst but settled well in the second distance to finish just a few points down the pb he set last week. The fight for the title was really between Toby and James and it was all square after the first two dozen arrows. Unfortunately a loss of concentration by James over the next half dozen arrows led to him recording three misses which effectively ended his challenge. Toby however, did not allow an early miss to affect him and shot an excellent round, adding 64 points to his pb and taking the trophy into the bargain.

The u12’s category saw Tilly Ashton, Jacob Brookes and Nathan Kinrade face off against each other. This was Nathan and Tilly’s first Junior Championship and, like Luke, Nathan was shooting for only the second time. After Tilly’s terrific Outdoor season a lot was expected of her on Sunday but it was obvious that Tilly was unwell from the get go. In fact she had been fighting off a virus for most of the week and it was only her devotion to the sport that made her turn up. Nathan added a terrific 48 points to his pb from the previous week but had to settle for third place. Tilly, who was working her way through a box of tissues and with a mounting temperature, did her very best but Jacob out shot her on the first distance by 43 points. Tilly came back at him over the second distance but only reduced the deficit by 5 points and Jacob ran out a worthy winner. Jacob’s final score of 621 shattered the Club Record he set earlier in the season by 78 points.

Results – Junior Club Championships: u18- 1. J.Reaney 71/406/3/0, 2. M.Noon 69/403/5/1. U14- 1. T.Young 71/587/13/6pb, 2. J.Hill 67/470/5/0, 3. L.Kenna 53/291/2/0. U12- 1. J.Brookes 72/621/24/5 NCR, pb, 2. T.Ashton 72/583/17/4, 3. N.Kinrade 68/485/3/2pb.

Congratulations to everyone who took part and we hope that Tilly gets better soon.