UK Student Archery Association

5 Days, 5 Leagues: BUTTS [26/Mar/14]

Usually editorial articles on the this website are allowed to mellow like a fine wine for at least a few days, revelling in the tag of Latest Article, before making their way in to the archives. However, because there are a lot of regional league results to review (including three leagues extracting scores from Telford), this week will see one article per day, focussing on each league in turn.

Wednesday - BUTTS

After match 3 Seniors: Warwick 22 points, Derby 20, Nottingham Trent 18, Nottingham 13. Novices: Loughborough and Derby 20 points, Birmingham 19, Nottingham 15.

In match 4, Derby and Oxford enjoyed a small cushion over the other sides with Derby posting 2263 (the highest BUTTS league score of the season) to take maximum points, narrowly ahead of Oxford's 2257. These two would go on to medal at BUTC the following week. Thomas Currall and Shaun Rhodes both broke 570 for Derby, with 579 from Alex Smith (Oxford) the top score in the match. Nottingham were third with 2229. Warwick, who had co-led the table going in to the match, were fourth with 2216. Loughborough shot 2195, whilst Cambridge beat Birmingham 240 hits to 239, both teams on 2183. Trent had been third at the start of the day, but 2162 was only enough for one league point. In the equivalent novice fixture, Derby and Nottingham were well clear out in front, Derby making it a double with 2111 (team of 4) against Nottingham's 2082. Birmingham and Cambridge were third and fourth in the mid 1900s. Davi Simmons (Derby) scored a novice league record 557.

After match 3 Seniors: Derby 28 points, Warwick 27, Oxford and Nottingham and Nottingham Trent 19. Novices: Derby 28 points, Birmingham 25, Nottingham and Loughborough 22.

Match 4 took place on 8th Feb, with BUTTS Indoors exactly one month later and so, the week after Telford, the 8 BUTTS clubs were at it again, with Derby looking for their first ever BUTTS league title pitted against Warwick, who have won this title 4 times in the last 6 seasons. Derby had a 1 league point advantage, but exactly the same aggregate (accrued over 4 matches) as Warwick.

At BUTTS Indoors, the top 5 teams finished within 11 points of each other. Derby scored 2258 and took the league title as Warwick's 2248 was not enough. Indeed so closely packed were the teams at the Indoors that Derby's 2258 left them second on the day, whilst Warwick's 2248 was enough for only 5th. Derby therefore ended up winning the league by 4 points. Oxford's 2259 was enough to add BUTTS Indoor Championship gold and BUTTS league bronze to the gold they won at BUTC and BUCS Indoor silver. Nottingham got 2257, third on the day. Birmingham were fourth on 2251. Loughborough scored 2226 and were sixth, Cambridge scored 2214 and were seventh and Nottingham Trent scored 2196 and were eighth and last despite finishing a hair under 2200. Top scorer was Alex Morrell who scored a mighty 584 for Birmingham and there were another five archers over 570: Tom Currall (Derby) 578, Alex Smith (Oxford) 576, Richard Haydock (Nottingham) 575, plus Jorge Lindley (Warwick) and Tak Ho (Cambridge) both on 573.

Third place at the Indoors would have guaranteed Derby their first novice league title, or fourth and finishing within 210 of Birmingham. Derby did indeed finish 4th, but were only 69 behind Birmingham who did take maximum points. Birmingham won the novices Indoors with (team of 4) 2108 to go level with Derby on league points. Nottingham were close behind on 2101, with Oxford in third on 2040, just one ahead of Derby. Top individual novice was Sam Rees (Birmingham) on 551, with Michael Hall (Nottingham) on 541.

Final BUTTS standings Seniors: Derby 35 points, Warwick 31, Oxford 27, Nottingham 25. Novices Derby 33 points (9849), Birmingham 33 (9708), Nottingham 29, Loughborough 25. Full the full set of indoor BUTTS results see BUTTS 2013/14 page.

The uniformly high quality on shows at BUTTS matches in 2013/14 was continued in league match 4 and the Indoor Champs - which in BUTTS do count towards the league. The small gap between first and last (101 in match 4 and only 63 at BUTTS Indoors) made for a very close, very volatile table. Both Derby and Nottingham Trent won BUTTS legs for the first time this season, with Derby going on to win both senior and novice titles for the first time. BUTTS sides were the sides to beat nationally too, with 6 of the top/last 8 teams at BUCS and BUTC.