Nine archers turned up to shoot in the morning session at Onchan on Sunday. Among the small but loyal band was Danny Cowin, who looked very much as one would expect a man to look who had celebrated a friend’s retirement on Friday night and his own 48th birthday on the Saturday night – that is like a one man Walking Dead tribute act. Pity he was a little early for Hop Tu Naa. The round of the day was a Portsmouth, shot as part of the Club’s Handicap league. The handicap system allows all archers to shoot against each other on a level playing field, irrespective of age, gender or bow type.

Vying for scratch honours among the Compound shooters were Rhys Moore, Pete Mumford, Dave Moore and Billy Lightfoot. Mr Lightfoot was slightly the worse for wear having indulged in too much Irish music and Scotch whisky the night before, and it showed in his score. While he never strayed out of the gold, Billy could not find the 10 zone often enough to put the others under pressure. Billy shot again in the afternoon session and, judging by his performance, must have had his spinach as he broke the 580 barrier for the first time. Only his morning score could be used for handicap purposes. Dave Moore put in a pretty solid round but admitted to being short on practice due to work commitments. He finished third in scratch terms and fifth overall. The best shooting of the day came from Pete Mumford and Rhys Moore. Rhys finished with the best scratch score of the day, just 6 points short of his pb, which after handicapping put him in third place. Rhys then carried on into the afternoon session to set a New Club Record for the Double Portsmouth. Pete Mumford put in a season’s best score that was agonizingly 1 point short of his pb for the round. His efforts secured him fourth place overall.

Scratch honours in the Recurve went to Danny Cowin who, in spite of struggling with both his form and staying awake, managed to finish strongly enough to eclipse Barbara Harris’ score as Harris struggled with her release. They finished eighth and seventh respectively. After a shaky start Eric Lutes relaxed into the shoot and showed some good form as he added 17 points to his pb for the round, which after handicapping gave him overall victory. In the afternoon session Dave Berry got within 3 points of Danny’s score but the difference in their respective handicaps meant that Dave finished up in second place overall.

 Junior archers Tilly Ashton, Jacob Brookes and James Hill also shot in the afternoon session. Tilly Ashton had a poor shoot by her standards which saw her finish in last place. Jacob Brookes just edged out James Hill to take the junior scratch honours.

Also shooting were father and daughter James and Bethany Aldridge. It was their first appearance at a Sunday competition and they need to post two further rounds to establish a handicap.

Results Portsmouth Handicap – 1.E.Lutes 1468 (60/481/9)pb, 2.D.Berry 1461 (60/539/17), 3.R.Moore 1440 (60/583/43), 4.P.Mumford 1436 (60/577/37), 5.D.Moore 1435 (60/573/33), 6.B.Lightfoot 1429 (60/559/20), 7.B.Harris 1425 (60/532/46), 8.J.Brookes 1420 (59/446/2), =8.D.Cowin 1420 (60/542/22), 10.J.Gough 1417 (60/544/10), 11.J.Hill 1401 (58/445/7), 12.T.Ashton 1335 (60/390/1). Also shooting- J.Aldridge 59/395/2pb. B.Aldridge 47/262/2pb.

Double Portsmouth – Gents Compound R.Moore 120/1170/90 NCR,pb. Ladies Compound- J.Gough 120/1105/33pb. Ladies Recurve – B.Harris 120/1080/42.

Good Luck to everyone shooting at the Lancashire Open in Preston on Sunday.