By way of a season finale, two separate rounds were shot at Greeba on Sunday. The morning was taken up with a Western, while the afternoon was devoted to the Nev Mason Long Haul Trophy. Weather conditions were generally good with sunny spells and a light breeze which freshened into the afternoon.The Western round consisted of 4 dozen arrows shot at each of two distances 60 and 50 yards. As with all National rounds the scoring was done on a five zone basis 9/7/5/3/1 giving a maximum score of 864. Since the Western had not been shot at the club this century everyone involved had a chance of notching up a personal best score.

Usual suspects Pete Mumford and Dave and Rhys Moore were joined in the Compound division by Simon Musgrove and Billy Lightfoot, who managed to find his way to the field from the wilds of Port St Mary. Rhys Moore was in unstoppable form, with only two of his arrows failing to find the centre of the target, he fell just 4 points short of the maximum score and set a Club Record that will be difficult to beat.

The real fight was to decide who would take second place. After the first distance Dave Moore and Simon Musgrove were tied on 416, with Billy Lightfoot, using a new release aid, 4 points further back.  Pete Mumford enjoyed another relaxed shoot as he dispensed his brand of wit and wisdom to all and sundry. By the end of the first dozen at 50y Dave and Simon were still tied but Billy had cut the deficit to 2 points. The next dozen saw Musgrove falter. Lightfoot leapfrogged him but still remained 2 points adrift of Dave Moore. Dave maxed the next dozen arrows to re-establish a 4 point lead over Billy and it looked like second place was his until he winged one into the 3 zone.

Lightfoot ignored the good natured banter, or heckling as it is more commonly known, to send all but one of his arrows into the 9 zone to secure second place by the slimmest of margins. Simon Musgrove just managed to hold off Pete to take fourth.

In the Recurve division Danny Cowin, Carl Moon and Barbara Harris were joined by David Smith and, the resurgent, Dave Berry. Danny Cowin made the best start, with Barbara Harris putting in a miss in the first dozen arrows. This still only left her 3 points adrift of Cowin with Dave Berry 3 points behind her. Berry then had a miss but steadied to end the first distance in second place. Danny shot a little erratically but managed to find the target with all of his arrows to establish a 15 point lead over Dave. The two men engaged in a little psychological warfare to try and put each other off, while Harris carried on shooting with the quiet dignity that is her trademark. Barbara, intent on breaking the Club Record for the Ladies Western, found her form at her favourite 50y distance and broke the Club Record with 18 arrows left to shoot. She went on to smash it by 137 points. Relaxing a little too soon she had another miss which opened the door for Dave Berry. Danny Cowin became more erratic at the shorter distance but still held on to take the win. In the end only 6 points separated first and third.  Carl Moon shot solidly but was never in with a chance of coming better than fourth. David Smith had never attempted to shoot anything as long as 60y and he struggled to find the range but nevertheless completed the round in his usual cheerful manner.

Tilly Ashton took on the Junior Western (40 & 30yds) with such authority, that she eclipsed the Club Record previously held by Nicola Hughes by a jaw dropping 334 points.

In the afternoon the mood became less serious with the annual Nev Mason Long Haul and the junior Short Haul Trophy which traditionally marks the end of the Outdoor season. The Long Haul is for barebow or traditional bows only and consists of 3 dozen arrows at each of two distances 60 & 40yds but using metric scoring. Once again Rhys Moore spent the afternoon showing everyone why he switched to Compound. The score with which he finished in dead last place was actually a pb (he added 2 whole points to last year’s score) which will hopefully be a consolation when he picks up the wooden spoon at the Awards dinner in November. David Smith was attempting the Long Haul for the first time and even he managed to beat Rhys. Barbara Harris was delighted to add 66 points to her pb for the round and finish fourth. Harris was in such a mellow mood she even gave some advice to Danny Cowin who was starting to droop at the second distance.

As a result he added 15 points to his pb for the round and took fifth place. Veteran archer Pete Mumford had a bit of trouble with the first distance but kept all his arrows on target at 40 yards to secure third place on the podium. Dave Berry and Dave Moore took the whole shoot far too seriously in the opinion of the Records Officer. Only 1 point separated them after 60 yards but Berry powered home at the second distance to lift the Trophy for the first time.

The Short Haul saw a raft of personal best scores being recorded. James Hill added an impressive 120 points to his pb but had to settle for fifth. Nathan Kinrade took fourth and Tilly Ashton added 45 points to her pb to secure third. Joseph Reaney put 34 points on his pb but could not prevent Jacob Brookes from lifting the Trophy for the second year in a row.

Results: Western – Compound – 1.R.Moore 96/860/94CR,pb, 2.B.Lightfoot 96/840/82pb, 3.D.Moore 96/838/85pb, 4.S.Musgrove 96/830/79pb, 5.P.Mumford 96/828/78pb. Recurve – 1.D.Cowin 96/718/39pb, 2.D.Berry 94/716/44pb, 3.B.Harris 94/712/46NCR,pb, 4.C.Moon 96/674/29pb, 5.D.Smith 60/280/7pb. Junior Western – T.Ashton 96/706/31NCR,pb.

Nev Mason Long Haul Trophy- 1.D.Berry 65/426/5/1pb, 2.D.Moore 64/403/4/2pb, 3.P.Mumford 60/320/2/1pb, 4.B.Harris 55/280/3/2pb, 5.D.Cowin 56/278/0/0pb, 6.D.Smith 34/183/2/2pb, 7.R.Moore 44/176/0/0pb. Junior Short Haul Trophy – 1.J.Brookes 69/491/6/1, 2.J.Reaney 70/460/3/1pb, 3.T.Ashton 61/396/4/1pb, 4.N.Kinrade 60/323/1/0, 5.J.Hill 50/313/1/0.