UK Student Archery Association

BUTC Review [21/Mar/08]

In one of the best ever BUTC finals, Edinburgh A (Jenny Jeppsson, Gregor Schnuer and David Lange) beat Warwick B (Alex Stuart, Phil King and Julie Chenery) in a high quality encounter that eventually finished 18-13 to the defending champions. Warwick took an early lead and held it to the half way stage but eventually ran out of answers to a blistering second half display from Edinburgh. Nottingham A (Rhys Rhodes, Amy Middleton-Gear and James Carr) celebrated the club's first semi-final appearance by beating Cambridge A (Matthew Johnson, Robert Fryers, Tim Craig) having opened up a big early lead then cruising to the podium.

Edinburgh A took the lead in the ranking round after six arrows and held it until the end, but just behind them there was an almighty scramble for positions 2 down as far as 9, with the leader-board changing every end. No fewer than seven clubs occupied second (or joint second) place as the ranking round unfolded. Edinburgh B and Imperial A swapped second and third places for each of the last four ends before Edinburgh B's 797 claimed second. The next five teams were sandwiched into only six points. Imperial A, Durham A and Cambridge A finished on 793, 792 and 791. Warwick B, who outqualified their own A team were sixth on 788, just a point ahead of Nottingham A. Warwick A themselves were eighth on 780 pushing ahead of Surrey ninth on 777. Back in tenth, Keele's 765 kept Oxford A's 762 out of the top ten. Two NEUAL clubs followed as York A were three points ahead of Liverpool A on 760 and 757 respectively. Two BUTTS clubs followed this as Birmingham A's 752 was enough by a point to beat Loughborough A. The top sixteen was completed by Bath A, who on 743 had a 14 point cushion on 17th. This is the highest ever score required to finish 16th and by over 30 points.

Pete Clayton (Durham A) with 287 and Jenny Jeppsson (Edinburgh A) with 289 were the individual winners as both individual qualifying records were broken. Alex Lamb (Edinburgh B) and Julie Chenery (Warwick B) were both well clear in second place on 280 and 267 respectively. The chasing packs were led by Rhys Rhodes and Amy Middleton (both Nottingham A) on 273 and 260. Top novice was Lucy Bonner (York A) on 235.

The format of the knock-out matches was identical to last year as the teams of three each shot four ends of two arrows each at 60mm discs.

Into the first knock out round of 32, there were no alarms for Edinburgh A or B as they cruised past B team opposition from their own league. Edinburgh A beat St Andrews B 14-2 whilst Edinburgh B whitewashed city rivals Napier B 9-0. The other Scottish sides also bowed out in the Round of 32. St Andrews A suffered a 14-0 mauling against hosts Durham A. Napier A fared better but were sunk 4-3 by Oxford in a tight but low scoring match with many near misses. Imperial and Warwick also saw both of their sides progress. All-novice Bradford were impressive against Imperial A, who only raced clear towards the end of the highest scoring match of the round, winning 15-7. Imperial B (qual 17th) were also in double-figures knocking out Bath (qual 16th) 10-4 to book a meeting with Edinburgh A. Warwick B downed Swansea 12-4 to eliminate the remaining SWWU team. Warwick A and Surrey set up a last 16 clash with identical 15-4 wins over Durham B and Birmingham B respectively. Birmingham A (qual 14th) become the highest seeded casualty of the round of 32 as they succumbed 9-5 to Leeds B (qual 19th), the NEUAL side growing in confidence almost with every arrow. Leeds A who had outqualified their B side by one place however were drummed out 11-3 by Loughborough. The win for Leeds B is Leeds' first ever knock-out win at BUTC - and the B team were originally on the reserve list, only getting to shoot at all because Chester A were so severely delayed. The two teams from York suffered contrasting scorelines as York A beat Roses rivals Lancaster A 13-2 but York B lost 8-2 to Liverpool A. Cambridge A set up a second round meeting with York A by easing past Sheffield A 11-4. Cambridge B put up a brave fight before losing 7-9 to 2007 semi-finalists Keele. In the rounds remaining fixture Nottingham A beat Liverpool B 9 discs to 4.

Out of the eight matches in the round of 16 (round 2), three finished in ties, but of them more later. Hosts Durham A kept up their progress with a 16-9 win over Liverpool A. After struggling through the previous round Oxford A found their touch but too late as they went down 10-12 to Warwick B who booked a fascinating QF with Imperial A who ended Leeds B's hopes of an unlikely double-upset 13 hits to 6. Nottingham A eliminated Keele 14-10 as Edinburgh A laboured to beat Imperial B. Imperial B had been winning at half way - goaded into action Edinburgh A hit a perfect pass (six hits out of six) in pass 3 to grab hold of the match and go on to win 15-10. Edinburgh B (qual 2nd) had tied with Loughborough A (qual 15th) 8-8, but the upset was averted as Edinburgh B won the shoot off 2-1. Warwick A v Surrey had ended 9 all and as the hooter sounded in the shoot off, Warwick A had 2 hits from 3 shots and Surrey had 1 from 2. Short of time, Surrey's third arrow was fired just after the hooter and they lost a point to lose the play-off 2-0. Had the teams been tied the decision to shoot that arrow would have been fatal, but one hit down it was worth the risk. As if that wasn't drama enough, the tie of the round was 2004 champions York A against 2006 and 2007 finalists Cambridge A. The match had finished at 13 all, the highest match aggregate so far. The shoot off then was also tied at 1-1 in an increasingly noisy atmosphere the two teams went arrow for arrow again. The atmosphere got to both teams but it was Cambridge who secured a quarter-final berth with an excellent 3-1 win in the second shoot-off.

The quarter-finals saw the top eight qualifiers going up against each other, but given that only one arrow value had separated 2nd from 7th in qualifying, all bets were more or less off. With one side in all four quarter finals BUTTS sides looked in a good position. Warwick B thumped down 17 hits, including a six from six to leave Imperial A out at the quarter-final stage for the third year in a row. Warwick A however were beaten by Edinburgh A 17-12. Cambridge A were always in front but could never relax against Durham A, eventually winning 11-10. Edinburgh B were involved in second consecutive shoot-off after drawing a very tight match 8-8 with Nottingham A, but this time Edinburgh B lost the shoot off, going down 2-0.

The first of the semi-finals pitted old rivals Edinburgh A and Cambridge A against one another, a repeat of the final of the last two seasons. This time however Cambridge were underdogs having survived very close calls against York A and Durham A whilst Edinburgh A had only ever looked in difficulties once against Imperial B and had yet to win a match by less than 5 hits. In the end Edinburgh A won the first pass 4-2 and gradually increased the lead to four, winning 15-11. Warwick's record in BUTC semi-finals is three defeats from three, having faced Edinburgh (2004) or Cambridge (2006 and 2007), so how would they fare against first time semi-finalists Nottingham A. The first pass finished 4-4 and really got the noisy crowd going, but in the second pass Warwick B took a decisive 7-4 lead, which then became 11-7, leaving Nottingham too much to do, as they lost 13-9.

In the bronze medal match, Nottingham were straight out of the blocks, racing into a 4-0 lead before Cambridge A could get into the match. There was a mini-revival but Nottingham were not to be denied and closed out the match in celebratory mood, eventually winning 11-7 to claim bronze. BUTC has been a happy hunting ground for Nottingham, with two previous QF appearances in 2004 and 2007. This is the first time Nottingham have won medals at national university level and is almost certainly the best ever single performance from the club. Once the dust settles, Cambridge can take heart from a fourth consecutive BUTC semi-final and having closed out two nail-biting matches in earlier rounds.

The whole university archery season 07/08 seems to have been Edinburgh v Warwick in some form or another, so it was fitting that the top two clubs should collide in the BUTC final. Both sides enjoyed voluble support in the final, particularly from members of their respective leagues and although BUTTS outnubered SUS, Edinburgh picked up some neutral support along the way. Often finals do not produce classic matches - nerves can get the better of even the most experienced archers and the match can become a war of attrition. Not this time. Warwick B got the crowd going immediately taking first blood with a 3-2 win in the first pass, a scoreline that could have been reversed line cutters permitting. Edinburgh A charged back, but where other teams had gone under, Warwick B refused to give an inch and held the lead 7-6 at the half way mark. The two teams continued to slug it out, Edinburgh A bludgeoning in another perfect end to nudge them into a 12-10 lead. Still Warwick B came back, but eventually even they could not quite keep up and Edinburgh had three arrows at the end to tie up a 18-13 win, the very last arrow of the day a booming hit, mirroring the match as a whole.

Thanks to the the large crew that goes into producing these events. Tim Mundon, ACME and the usual Judges (hi) were augmented by Ruth Bedder marshalling her crew of scorers and helpers from Durham (and beyond) as well as event sponsor, Werner Beiter, in attendance once again.

As the 2008 edition of BUTC recedes, thoughts inevitably turn to BUTC 2009. Do you fancy a slice of that pie? Maybe you just want to guarantee your B team is top of the pile of entries or see Werner Beiter pool hustling. If you have space to shoot at 16 bosss and an army of helpers available, then send an email to the usual UKSAA address.

Quarter Finals