BUSA Indoors Review [04/Mar/08]

The behemoth that is BUSA Indoors rolled into York in 2008 and on Saturday 1st March, once again broke all attendance records. A total of 39 institutions were represented by 446 starters, who shot 453 scores. This smashed the previous record of 383 in York's hall and giant tent.

Edinburgh made it six in a row and increased the tournament record for the third time in succession with a breathtaking 2291 (team Jenny Jeppsson 585, Alexander Lamb and Denis Johnstone both 569 and Gregor Schnuer 568). As they have shown all season BUTTS winners Warwick were Edinburgh's closest challengers but a relatively slow start left them with too much to do and they finished on 2266 (team Alex Stuart 572, Thomas Hutchins 568, Christopher Butler 564, Phil King 562) beating their 2265 last year for the highest team score not to win the title. Edinburgh and Warwick left the pack chasing for bronze. SEAL winners Surrey notched 2233 (team Matthew Sharpe 583, Barry Cottrell 571, Mac Edwards 542, Matthew Brown 537) to stay ahead of Cambridge who shot 2216 courtesy of Robert Fryers' 564 and Samuel Burnand's 563. A pair of 560's from Oxford's Marc Tamlyn and Nottingham's Rhys Rhodes saw their universities sandwich 2200 in fifth and sixth, Oxford a point over, Nottingham five the wrong side. Durham were seventh with 2184, top scorer Peter Clayton with 573. Four universities chasing the last BUSA point for finishing eighth were compressed into the 2170's. Robert King's 566 propelled Southampton into eighth on 2178, with Bath on 2176, and York on 2172 keeping Imperial out of the top ten by a solitary point. Sheffield rounded off the top dozen on 2165.

In the novice team category Edinburgh romped to victory on 1577 (team Maggie Ziriax 533, Ani Zhang 523, YD Zheng 521), winning by a massive 85 points having thoroughly shaken off early season losses. Essex were surprise, if thoroughly deserving, silver medallists as they scored 1492 (team Karlis Zivtins 530, Phil Robinson 500, Suzanne Nolan 462). Essex will hopefully be joining SEAL next season, and notably finishing ahead of all the SEAL sides at novice level. Hosts York were narrowly squeezed into third place with 1489 (team Lucy Bonner 523, Maria Arinbjarnar 484, Joe Kierl 482). Birmingham were just outside the medal places with 1483, despite a 540 from Lance Halls. After the top four there was a gap of nearly 50 points down to Sheffield who edged Oxford 1436-1435, with Sarah Brown's 508 and David Armstrong's 514 the top scorers. SUS Novice League champions Napier were seventh on 1426 with Edmond Cham's 507 chiefly responsible for keeping the Scottish club ahead of Cambridge, eighth on 1424. Leeds were ninth on 1415, whilst Imperial's 1382 was enough for tenth by the narrowest of margins over Bath (by one hit) and Durham (by one point).

Gents recurve had an astonishing 249 finishers, but George Harding (Plymouth) with 588 had too much for all of them. The score ties Matt Gray and Tim Mundon for the BUSA record. Harding was five points clear of 2006 winner Andrew Callaway (Bournmough) and Matthew Sharpe (Surrey) on 583, Callaway claiming the silver medal on golds, 47 to 43. BUSA Outdoors champion Colin Geenes (Coventry) was fourth and claimed the last BUSA point with a score of 579. All the gents from 5th to 20th scored were squashed into the gap from 574 down to 564. Top equal of this heap were Rhodri Curnow (Swansea) and Alex Lyne (Loughborough) who both shot 574 with 39 golds. Equipment problems dogged Peter Clayton (Durham) who was sixth on 573 ahead of BUTTS organiser Alex Stuart (Warwick) on 572, who scored a remarkable 40 golds. SEAL duo Barry Cottrell (Surrey) and Samuel Perkins (Kent) rounded off the top ten on 571 and 570 respectively. Just outside the gents top ten were Edinburgh trio Denis Johnstone (11th 569 with 33 golds), Alexander Lamb (12th 569 with 32 golds) and Gregor Schnuer (14th 568 with 32 golds). Somewhere inamongst this tidal wave was Thomas Hutchins (Warwick) who was 13th with 568 and 35 golds.

Jenny Jeppsson (Edinburgh) held on to the ladies recurve title for the third year in a row with a blistering 585, the highest score ever shot behind only Alison Williamson and Naomi Folkard. Mirroring the team recurve race, Jeppsson's only serious came from Julie Chenery (Warwick) who eventually scored 561 for second. A dozen points further back, Kyshiea Steele (Edinburgh) picked up bronze, fighting off Amy Middleton-Gear (Nottingham) 548 to 546. Novice Michelle Huang (Warwick) would have been fifth overall, but fifth and sixth in BUSA's "Trophy" category were Eilidh Marshall (Dundee) and Laura Bridel (Southampton) who both finished on 538, Marhsall taking fifth spot 20 golds to 19. It was however slightly disappointing to see only two ladies recurves over 550 when no less than 44 gents achieved the same feat.

Novice recurve produced decisive winners Lance Halls (Birmingham) with 540 and Michelle Huang (Warwick) with 542. Karlis Zivtins (Essex) won gents silver with 530, clear of Joe Wright (Nottingham) and YD Zheng (Edinburgh) who were a battling for bronze, Wright winning out by a point, 522 against Zheng's 521. Ian Connelly (Imperial) was fifth on 514, the same score as David Armstrong (Oxford), but Armstrong had a costly miss to slip into sixth place - a nine instead of the miss would have earned him a bronze. Positions seven down to nine were an all SUS affair. Martin Eggert (Aberdeen) was ahead of Gavin Eardley (Edinburgh) 13 golds to 7 after they both shot 508. Edmond Cham (Napier) had 14 golds but was a point behind on 507 in ninth. Sam Lee (Durham) and Phil Robinson (Essex) also broke 500. In the novice ladies, Edinburgh had four of the top seven although Michelle Huang (Warwick) was well clear in front. Maggie Ziriax (silver medal with 533), Ani Zhang (bronze with 523 and 19 golds), Naomi Jones (5th on 511) and Anna Klampfer (7th on 507) (all Edinburgh) dominated the ladies section. For the record, Edinburgh Novice B team would have scored 1526 and been second overall. For the home side Lucy Bonner (York) narrowly missed out on bronze matching Zhang's total of 523, but falling 4 golds short. Sarah Brown (Sheffield) scored 508 and was sixth.

Perhaps the performance of the championships came in gents compound where Phil Glover (Loughborough) shot a BUSA and All Unis record of 594. The previous record of 593 held by Tim Mundon (then Cardiff UW) would have been ten years old next week. A student yet again, Alistair Whittingham (Northumbria) won silver with 587, fifteen years after he won his first BUSA individual medal. The competition for gents bronze was so close that they tied. Dave Wright (Northumbria) and Jonathan Goodman (Loughborough) both scored 580 with 40 golds, or twenty lots of 10-10-9 depending on how you look at these things. Last year's winner Tim Nash (London) completed the leading group on 579. Last year Ali Sewell (Edinburgh) forwent her novice status for a crack at the senior BUSA title and was rewarded with a silver. This time however she stormed to victory in ladies compound with 570, Becky Gridley (Keele) close behind on 568, Victoria Hinchliffe (Sheffield) winning bronze. Ant O'Brien (Aberdeen) with 545 and Alice Wilson (Edinburgh) were the leading novices, Wilson's score a new BUSA record.

Since the addition of BUSA points, barebow and longbow have become increasingly common and several All Unis records have already fallen this season. Gents barebow was closely contested but eventually Andrew Tappenden (Swansea) beat Mark Henderson (Warwick) 523 to 520. A distant third was double-bow-er Denis Johnstone (Edinburgh) with Rob Toller (Bangor) top novice. Helen Bundy (Derby) already possesses the All Unis ladies barebow record and although she didn't break that here, her 507 was enough to win and take the BUSA mark. Her nearest rival was Elizabth York (Bangor) on 472. Top novice was Katharine Budd (Derby) on 393. In gents longbow Chris White (Edinburgh) broke the senior BUSA record with 416, as Karlis Zivtins (Essex), double-bowing, broke the novice one with 231. Leanne Wagstaff (Leeds) won ladies longbow with 391, whilst Samara Hyde (Keele) scored 205 to break the BUSA and All Unis novice records.

Results for both a SEAL and SWWU match were extracted from these scores and there were wins here for Bath and Southampton respectively.

York's giant tent and (regular-sized) hall meant that a capacity in excess of 500 was possible and no archers were on a waiting list. Although the tent did get quite chilly in the third and final session, there were six and a half BUSA records, two of those All Unis scores, in a hitch free tournament. ACME were given a entire squash court as an operating base which was much nicer than the usual cupboard or hallway and the constant supply of coffee didn't go amiss either. York had stepped in as last minute hosts and did an admirable job, so thanks to Michael Ward and the bodies from York and also Sheffield and the myriad of competitors for keeping the event flowing so smoothly. Next week hit-miss hostilities resume in Durham and a quick trip up A1M for Napier's back stop netting.

News and Editorials 2007/2008

  • Glover's silver Taiwan highlight [25/Jul/08]
  • Essex, Kent, Huddersfield join party [15/Jul/08]
  • BUSA Outdoors Review [30/Jun/08]
  • Made for Taiwan [17/Jun/08]
  • Lancaster, Edinburgh win Outdoors [07/Jun/08]
  • Cancellation of League Team Champs [09/May/08]
  • Photo finish for NEUAL, pt 2/2 [21/Apr/08]
  • Photo finish for NEUAL, pt 1/2 [17/Apr/08]
  • ELeague Season Ends [14/Apr/08]
  • League Team Championship Info [07/Apr/08]
  • Easter Updates [27/Mar/08]
  • BUTC Review [21/Mar/08]
  • BUSA Indoors Review [04/Mar/08]
  • Warwick's perfect 23 as SWWU starts [29/Feb/08]
  • Head to Heads [26/Feb/08]
  • Surrey joy plus BUTTS results [22/Feb/08]
  • Napier win SUS Novice League, lose venue [19/Feb/08]
  • BUSA, BUTC and other updates [11/Feb/08]
  • Wonderful Warwick rip up records [06/Feb/08]
  • Buckle up for busy Feb [31/Jan/08]
  • York get BUSA as calendar settles [17/Jan/08]
  • 2007 becomes 2008 [09/Jan/08]
  • Ding ding round two [17/Dec/07]
  • Sheffield success as Liverpool lead [13/Dec/07]
  • Napier and Aberdeen's novice wins [03/Dec/07]
  • NEUAL and BUTTS take shape [29/Nov/07]
  • BUTC bid deadline announced [26/Nov/07]
  • Surrey set SEAL pace [20/Nov/07]
  • Oxford and Warwick with opening wins [13/Nov/07]
  • ELeague's opening salvo [07/Nov/07]
  • Neath the cover of October skies [29/Oct/07]
  • Calendars and Clubs [04/Oct/07]
  • Changes for BUTTS and NEUAL [25/Sep/07]
  • Back in the saddle [10/Sep/07]

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