Several Isle of Man Archery Club members took part in some off-island competitions recently.

Dave Moore, Barbara Harris and Rhys Moore went to the Double 1440 Autumn event at Meriden, while junior archer Erin Hainge was escorted to the Cheshire County Bowmen 1440 shoot by her dad, Richard.

Erin completed the beginners’ course during the indoor season and is in her first outdoor campaign.

Having set and broken numerous club records, she spent most of the season shooting up an age group to prepare for the Cheshire competition.

The weather was predicted to be awful across most of the UK and Erin started the day kitted out for heavy rain. While it was a bit blustery at first, this in no way prevented the youngster from putting in a stellar performance in her first off-island competition.

By lunchtime the sun had broken through, the rain never appeared and, although the breeze stiffened, it did nothing to curb Erin’s enthusiasm.

By the end of the day she had a recorded a personal best of 1,232 and had won the under-14 girls recurve trophy as well as the top novice trophy, top visitor award and had claimed the gold medal for getting nearest the spider (the + in the centre of the target) on a specific end at the longest distance (40m).

She also claimed all six Cheshire cat badges to round off an outstanding performance - congratulations go to Erin from everyone at the club.

The senior archers at Meriden couldn’t quite live up Erin’s standards but Rhys hit 1,300 both days in conditions that were uncomfortably humid but mostly dry to finish in seventh on Saturday and sixth on Sunday.

Dave put in a couple of solid rounds and enjoyed a tussle against his eldest son Ethan, based in England but still a member of Isle Man Archery Club, who had joined the others for the shoot.

Dave managed to just stay a couple of points ahead of Ethan on both days so that they finished ninth and 10th on the first day respectively then seventh and ninth on the second day - miraculous results given both men’s lack of practice.

Ethan in particular had barely lifted a bow in the last two years.

Unfortunately, Harris recorded her worst off-island competition scores to date as her form continues to slide. She finished 12th on the Saturday and 11th on Sunday.