UK Student Archery Association

Leagues get their skates on [02/Dec/10]

The second half of November traditionally sees the regional league calendar explode into life and there have been wins for Edinburgh, Bath, Warwick and Southampton over the last few weekends. Bad weather did force the cancellation of a SUS League Match at Aberdeen, with SUS Novice Championships at St Andrews now also in doubt.

On the weekend of the 20th/21st November, Plymouth rejoined what is still the smallest league, bringing SWWU back up to five teams. Hosts Exeter scored 2055, but it was not quite enough to stop Bath taking maximum points with 2073, Dan Maskell top scoring. Defending champions Swansea were well adrift in third. Plymouth, on their return to SWWU, finished fourth overall but did have the highest individual score of the match, a 563 from David Whittington. Gloucestershire's one man team were fifth. Bath, Exeter and Swansea finished in the same order as their senior equivalents.

Meanwhile, Edinburgh recorded a straightforward home win against Heriot-Watt and St Andrews. Migle Petruskeviciute was top scorer for Edinburgh's SUS-strength squad with 562, as Edinburgh's understudies fell six points short of 2200. City neighbours Heriot-Watt managed 1941 - a step up from their performance in the first SUS match, but not quite enough to match St Andrews who were second with 1978. Edinburgh's novice team won the novice match easily on 1452, top score 492 from David Kidd.

The following weekend should have seen Aberdeen play host to Napier and St Andrews, however both visiting sides elected not to make the journey, in terrible weather conditions. This match is now likely to be shot as a postal. The SUS Novice Championships, scheduled for St Andrews on Sat 4th Dec is now at high risk of cancellation with some clubs already indicating they may not be allowed to travel.

Both BUTTS leg 2 matches went ahead on the weekend of the 27th/28th, as Oxford and Nottingham Trent were the hosts. Powered by a 583 from Jorge Lindley and 579 from Andrew Shreeves, Warwick seized victory in the leg with 2256. Birmingham's total of 2224 bagged them a surprise second place with 569 each from Jack Bryant and League Organiser Steven Johnson. Nottingham were without their top three from the first leg and the absence was felt as Nottingham scored 2206, only narrowly taking third place, ahead of Loughborough for whom Mat Cole shot 577 to take them to 2202. Cambridge and Oxford were fifth and sixth despite scores of 2183 and 2181. Nottingham Trent broke 2000 barrier well ahead of Derby.

Nottingham's novices did extremely well with a team (of 4) score of over 2029, with all four novices over 500 - Darrel Watkins top on 512. Loughborough were second again but 200 points behind, Birmingham, Trent and Warwick were tightly packed in the middle of the field.

Notingham's third place means that Warwick leapfrog them clear into top spot in the senior BUTTS table. Also, Lucy O'Sullivan (Nottingham Trent) broke the BUTTS compound lady record for the second time in her second match, this time with 575.

Perhaps surprisingly in nine seasons of competition, Southampton have never won a regional league title. They have come very close, runners up in 2003 (SWWU), 2006 and 2007 (both SEAL). In the last two seasons they have never finished below 4th at BUCS Indoor or Outdoor. Could 2011 be the year for the south coast side to break this duck? Certainly a total of 2206, spearheaded by 574 from Sam Bird was enough to see off Essex and Surrey by a hundred points or so. Essex won the battle for second on 2109 largely thanks to a 573 from Michael Judd on 2109, while 3-time SEAL champions Surrey were third in the match on 2091. Southampton's novices pipped Essex to the match win, with Surrey third.

Results from the five NEUAL matches scheduled so far this season are not yet available. Also a reminder that scores for Round 2, November, in the E-League must be submitted by Sunday 5th December.