The IoM Archery Club met up at Greeba to shoot a metric round as part of the Club’s Handicap League. Shooting conditions were near perfect as possible and while the ground was soggy underfoot, temperatures were high and there was no wind. The round of the day was a Metric I (3 dozen arrows at each of four distances 70/60/50/& 30m), with the juniors shooting a round appropriate for their age group with all rounds being subject to handicap to ascertain the overall winner.

With the Ladies and Gents shooting the same distances, lone Lady Compound archer Joy Gough had some direct competition for once. The added spice of actual competition worked wonders for Joy as she put in a season’s best score of 1290 which was only a few points down on her overall pb and gave her overall victory after the handicap was applied. The fight for scratch honours amongst the Gents Compound was pretty fierce. By the end of the first distance only two points separated Billy Lightfoot, using his new release aid, in first place from Rhys Moore who was in third. Dave Moore overhauled Billy at the end of the 60m distance with Rhys still in third but with the prospect of his favourite 50m distance coming up. It proved pivotal, with Rhys leapfrogging into the lead and Dave Moore dropping to third. Dave Moore then put in a brilliant 30m distance dropping only 6 points which secured him second place in scratch terms and third place overall.

Lightfoot dropped to third place but added 79 points to his pb for the round and finished fifth after handicapping. Rhys finished 10 points clear of his nearest rival with a New Club Record score of 1356 but had to settle for tenth place after the handicap was applied. Pete Mumford put in a solid performance which saw him add 13 points to his pb for the round but he had to settle for fourth place in scratch terms and ninth place overall after the handicapping. All four men beat the old club record previously held by Pete Mumford.

Carl Moon provided Barbara Harris with some competition in the Recurve division and was leading after the first dozen arrows. Barbara however finally found some rhythm and came back to outshoot Carl by some 28 points. Harris then went on to consolidate her lead at the 60m distance. Unfortunately Carl had to leave after the morning session but he added 32 points to his pb for the round to finish eighth overall. Barbara finding herself without the impetus of direct competition did not shoot as well in the afternoon. A miss at the 30m distance coming shortly after being accused of being a Mackem (a person from Sunderland, which Harris is most certainly not) did nothing to improve her temper as she let another opportunity to break the 1100 barrier slip through her fingers. After handicapping Barbara finished dead last.

Toby Young was the only junior club member to shoot for entire day. Toby shot a Metric II round (60/50/40/30m) for the first time. He posted an excellent score that secured second place overall after handicapping.

Nathan Kinrade and Tilly Ashton (UK Junior Masters u14 Champion) and David Smith turned up for the afternoon session.  David having been away on Duke of Edinburgh Award duties was a little out of practice but his score for the Short Metric (50/30m) secured fourth place overall. Nathan and Tilly shot a Metric IV (20/10m) both were just a little off their best and while Tilly outscored Nathan in scratch terms their positions were reversed after the handicap was applied.

Results Metric Handicap – 1.J.Gough 1468(144/1290/40/18, 2.T.Young 1461(144/1084/18/6)pb, 3.D.Moore 1458(144/1346/83/26)pb, 4.D.Smith 1456(47/239/0/0, 5.B.Lightfoot 1449(144/1337/62/19)pb, =5. S.Musgrove 1449(72/643/21/8)pb, 7.N.Kinrade 1448(71/601/18/5), 8.C.Moon 1445(72/470/4/1)pb, 9.P.Mumford 1444(144/1310/56/16)pb, 10.R.Moore 1431(144/1356/78/28) NCR,pb, 11.T.Ashton 1428(72/629/18/5), 12.B.Harris 1405(141/1074/11/4).