There was a nice mix of old and new faces at the Onchan Hub on Sunday as the Club held the first shoot of the New Year. To ease the archers back into the swing of things after the two week break the round of the day was a Portsmouth shot as part of the Club’s Scratch League.

The largest field of the day was provided by the Gents Recurve where debutantes David Hicks and Peter Howland joined regular faces Eric Lutes and David Smith and old hand Danny Cowin. Needless to say Danny was in a league of his own and took the win in emphatic style. Eric Lutes had an uneven shoot, bursts of close grouping arrows followed by errant shots meant he was a little way below his best but his efforts were good enough for second place. David Hicks put in a commendable first time display (though Danny Cowin’s amazing 510 debut of 2013 remains the standout score for a beginner) to secure third. David Smith added 13 points to his pb for the round to finish fourth ahead of new boy Peter Howland who recorded a solid benchmark score.

Also shooting on for the first time on Sunday was Graham Makepeace-Warne, formerly of the Cheshire Bowman, who has joined the Club after relocating to the island.

Lone female Recurver Barbara Harris was reminded that she had in no way missed Danny Cowin’s brand of half-witted buffoonery over the Christmas break. His childish comments while Harris was on the shooting line might have upset a lesser mortal but Barbara dealt with them with her usual aplomb.

With Dave and Rhys Moore on sheep scanning duties until the afternoon, Pete Mumford was left to shoot against Joy Gough in the Compound division. While Pete and Joy are not actually in direct competition with each other, they often use the Sunday shoot as a way of deciding who does the washing up later in the day. A disputed line cutter, which was decided in favour of Mrs Gough by the Records Officer, caused Mr Mumford to display a certain amount of discontent for the rest of the morning and into the afternoon session. The Records Officer contends that there is nothing wrong with her eyesight and cannot help but feel that Pete Mumford was projecting his disappointment at his team (Everton) being put out of the FA Cup by Liverpool (the Records Officer’s team) onto her. As a result of the decision Joy and Peter’s scores were tied with Joy taking the victory in their private match by virtue of having hit more golds than Peter. Joy went on to shoot in the afternoon and finished just two points down on her pb.

In the afternoon session Dave and Rhys Moore conducted a private war of their own with a degree of one-upmanship and barracking which was endlessly entertaining. Dave Moore had a 3 point lead after the first dozen. Rhys then cut it down to 1 point at the end of the second, only to see Dave stretch it out to 2 points by the end of the third. Dave then threw away his advantage in the fourth dozen by putting an arrow into the 8 ring, so things were all square going into the final dozen. Rhys then dropped just 6 points to Dave’s 7 to take the win by just one point.

Junior archers Nathan Kinrade, Toby Young, Jacob Brookes, James Hill and Tilly Ashton were also in action. Toby Young was in excellent form, equalling his pb to take the win and record the highest Recurve score of the day (better luck next week Danny). James Hill put in a solid score to take second in spite of breaking in a new finger tab, while Jacob Brookes came in third ahead of the wonderfully even tempered Nathan Kinrade. Tilly Ashton, still getting accustomed to her new bow and using a new finger tab, took a little time to get going but looks in good form for the rest of the season.

Results Portsmouth – Gents Recurve – 1.D.Cowin 60/547/20, 2.E.Lutes 59/466/6, 3.D.Hicks 59/451/4pb, 4.D.Smith 59/431/5pb, 5.P.Howland 58/398/6pb. Ladies Recurve – B.Harris 60/534/19. Gents Longbow – G.Makepeace-Warne 58/332/1. Gents Compound – 1.R.Moore 60/573/33, 2.D.Moore 60/572/33, 3.P.Mumford 60/557/18. Ladies Compound – J.Gough 60/557/21. Junior Gents Recurve – 1.T.Young 60/554/25=pb, 2.J.Hill 60/495/7, 3.J.Brookes 60/471/6, 4.N.Kinrade 59/425/3. Junior Ladies Recurve – T.Ashton 60/444/2.