UK Student Archery Association

Single point decides E-League [16/Apr/12]

The 2011/12 E-League served up an absolute thriller of a final leg, that saw Edinburgh squeak past Warwick to retain their title by the narrowest of margins. Edinburgh and Warwick were level on 36 league points going in to the final round, making March a straight showdown. Warwick totalled 2267, whilst Edinburgh amassed 2268. Remarkably, Southampton also scored 2268 and had a higher gold count than Edinburgh, so the SEAL champions actually won the last round and finished on 41 points, behind Warwick on 44 points and Edinburgh on 45.

This is the seventh season for this incarnation of the E-League and it is Edinburgh's seventh triumph - a reward for consistantly excellent scoring over those years. However, this was by far the hardest fought campaign. SUS champions Edinburgh have dropped 6 league points in the previous six years (1, 1, 0, 1, 2 and 1), only to drop 5 this year alone. For Warwick, coming second by such a fine margin is a cruel blow, having finished runners up 12 times in the nationals of recent years, including a "silver slam" in 2009. Warwick's tally of seconds includes BUCS Indoors 2007, 08 and 09, BUTC 2008 and 09, BUCS Outdoors 2008, 09 and 11, and the E-League 2008, 09, 11 and now 12.

In the rest of E-League Division 1, Oxford were fourth on 34 points ahead of Nottingham's 26. Nottingham were the only side to fail to return a score in any month. Cambridge, Loughborough and Birmingham finished safely with 24, 22 and 19, but SEAL duo Imperial and Surrey will be relegated and replaced by Bath (fourth in Division 2) and Lancaster (sixth). Lancaster staged a remarkable late surge having failed to register a league point until Dec/Jan, but stole just ahead of Liverpool and Napier on the line. This means all five regional leagues will be included in Divsion 1 next year - 6 from BUTTS and 1 each from the other four.

Derby A joined Reading A as the teams to be promoted from Division 3, whilst London A and Durham A had already secured their promotions from Division 4. The struggle to get out of the Conference was as tricky as you would expect, but there was joy for Queen Mary who top the division with 32 points, accrued as follows: 0, 2, 10, 10, 10. Derby B took the second space, as Sussex A stumbled in the last round.

The compound Division 1 title was won by Bath, as Edinburgh failed to record any score in March. Swansea won the round and finished on 38 points in total, with Bath finishing as runners up in the round to move to 40, Edinburgh stuck on 39.

In novice Division 1, Edinburgh held off the Warwick challenge 45 points to 44, despite Warwick finishing second in March. ahead of Edinburgh, third. Loughborough won the round and finished fourth overall behind Birmingham. Cambridge and Liverpool will be promoted in to Division 1 next year. Derby A and Southampton B will go up from Division 3 into 2, whilst Warwick C and London A will go from the Conference to Division 3.

Matthew Langton (Oxford) saw his six point lead trimmed to one, but did just enough to hang on, with 84 points against 83 from Erik Rowbotham (Edinburgh). Sam Bird (Southampton) won the March round, to overtake Tom Castle (Reading) for third place. Rachael Hutchison (Warwick) made no mistake in the March round moving to 91 points, with Heather Reynolds (Cambridge) on 83. A trio of Edinburgh archers were 3rd, 4th and 5th, with Lizzie Bell taking third place on 78 points.

No score in the March round from Alex Gilliland (Edinburgh) meant Daniel Paterson (Bath) had a free run at gents barebow, the leading two on 92 and 79. Amyce Aurora-Smith (Bath) won ladies barebow on 90, but will have been relieved that Jocelyn Sarsby (Birmingham) did not enter a score for Sept/Oct as she won the other 4 rounds to end on 80. Ben Glover (Oxford) won gents compound with 96, altough Phill Dunn (Swansea) was runner up on 79 despite missing a round. Rhiannon Norfolk (Bath) won ladies compound with 85 after Naomi Jones (Edinburgh) stayed on 78 with no March score. Longbow winners were James Maskery (Bangor) on 99 and Llinos Murray-Williams (Liverpool) on 98.

In the novice categories Allan West (Birmingham) won on 82 ahead of Ben Arenas (Edinburgh) and Enrik Nako (Warwick) both on 74. In novice ladies recurve Stephanie Clason (Edinburgh) powered clear in the last two rounds to score 97, ahead of Eloise Cornish (Birmingham) on 84 and Eleonore Cossade (Oxford) who got 76 from four rounds.

All promotions and relegations are subject to confirmation from the E-League organisers themselves. The E-League is closed for business until Saturday 1st September.