UK Student Archery Association

Something not beginning with S [24/Mar/11]

On Sat 26th Feb, Lancaster won the NEUAL Indoor Champs, whilst on Sat 12th Mar, Nottingham won BUTTS equivalent, and in doing so, successfully defended their overall BUTTS title.

NEUAL Indoors visited Huddersfield for the first time and a three way battle for first place unfolded with Sheffield, Keele and Lancaster all within a handful of points of one another. In the end, a 570 from Matt McCormack and a 560 from Michael Bass took Lancaster to a total of 2194, to win the tournament by exactly ten points. Sheffield and Keele could hardly be separated. Keele's top scorer was Neil Robson on 560 as against the 572 from Sheffield's Rory Campbell, however the scores from Keele's other archers meant they nicked second place with 2184, only one single point ahead of Sheffield. Keele's total of 2184 included one miss - had that miss been a ten, then Keele would have pinched the title on golds. York were fourth on 2144, helped by a 563 from Arjun Kharpal. Huddersfield were fifth way back on 1975. Campbell, McCormack and Kharpal were the top three gents, whilst Lucy Bonner (York) was top lady on 544.

Lancaster also won the novice title with 1473, nearly two hundred clear of their competition. York were second on 1288, with Keele third on 1262. Lancaster now lead the novice NEUAL table.

Sunderland, who made their BUTC debut the week before, shot in this event as guests. However NEUAL stalwarts Bradford and Durham did not shoot at all , with newer league members Northumbria and MMU Cheshire also missing. None of the ordinary NEUAL match results are available at the moment - although the dates for all 13 scheduled matches are now in the past. If you have these results, please send them to UKSAA and league organiser Michael Ward.

On Sat 12th Mar, Nottingham powered their way to the BUTTS Indoor Championships and the overall BUTTS league title. Nottingham's total of 2294 (which would have won BUCS Indoors the week before) comprised a 587 from George Harding, a 574 from David Middleton-Gear and contributions in the 560s from Nicola Turner and James Carr. Hosts Loughborough grabbed second place in the Championships with 2252 to grab third place in the overall table, Tom Cram and Matt Cole with 578 and 572. Warwick were already assured of second place going in to the event, a 578 from Andrew Shreeves helping the home side to 2228 and third place. Oxford were fourth, Birmingham fifth and Cambridge fifth, all jammed together on 2193, 2191 and 2190 in a phenomenally high scoring event. Notable scores here were from David Timmins (Oxford) 576, Tak Ho and Heather Reynolds (both Cambridge) 571 and 564 and Jack Bryant (Birmingham) on 562. Ellie Dyson scored 560 for seventh placed Nottingham Trent, whilst Derby's winless streak continued. Harding, Shreeves, then Cram were the top three gents; Turner, Reynolds and Dyson the top three ladies.

In the BUTTS novice match Nottingham had won the title with a match to spare, so a fourth place finish did not matter. Birmingham finished top to go second overall - level on points with Loughborough, but ahead on aggregate. Loughborough themselves were third in the championships with Warwick second on the day, fourth overall. Nottingham Trent finished the season in a very respectable fifth place overall in their first BUTTS season - a great performance in this difficult league.

The fact that 8 senior clubs broke 2200 at BUCS was a sign of just how the strength in depth of student archery has increased across the board. In terms of quality however, BUTTS stands head and shoulders above the other leagues at the moment.

See latest NEUAL and BUTTS tables. In other regional league not beginning with S news, two leg results from the Irish IVL are now available. Limerick hold a slender lead over UC Dublin, with defending champions Dublin City lurking behind in third. Full results will appear on UKSAA shortly, in the meantime, see IIVL's 2010/11 standings on UCD site.