UK Student Archery Association

Lilleshall Head to Heads [30/Jun/19]

The H2H Tournament on the Sunday following BUCS Indoors brought the curtain down on the domestic season. This is the 7th edition of the tournament, which first ran in 2013.

There were 74 gent recurves and 43 ladies, with 23 compounds, 12 longbows and 37 barebows which made a total of 201. For the third year in succession Alex Newnes (Aberystwyth) broke the All Unis record for gents longbow. To scores of 382 (2017), 401 (2018), Newnes added a 435 (2019). The other All Unis records to fall were all in compound. Kai Thomas-Prause (Warwick) shot 698 as Sarah Moon (Nottingham Trent) shot 691, beating the previous records of 681 (gents) and 687 (ladies). The ladies record had stood since 2013. In the KO 15 arrow 50m matches, the same duo shot matching 147s (both in their respective finals) to tie the gents, and break the ladies All Unis records by 2.

In gents recurve, top seed William Pike (Warwick), beating 2nd seed and newly crowned BUCS Champion Arthur Coveney (Loughborough). Pike only shot one 8 and did enough to take each of the three sets. Pike overcame Ben Evans (Loughborough) in a tumultuous quarter-final. Pike trailed 0-4, despite two 27s as 9th seed Evans looked to claim an upset. However Evans faded and Pike remained consistent, fighting back to take the win 6-4. Pike then had a straightforward win over 20th seed and team-mate James Jeffs (Warwick) in his semi final. With a low scoring draw in set 5, Jeffs had beaten 5th seed Christopher Cooper (Loughborough) 6-4 in their QF. Coveney's QF was another epic. The match was 3-3 after 3 sets, but a miss in set 4 appeared to put Thomas Braxton (Leeds) on the brink of the win. A 28 won Coveney the last set and he took the shoot off as well to progress. Coveney went on to beat Matthew Sharpe (Surrey) in the semis. In the bronze medal match, James Jeffs lead Matthew Sharpe 4-0 and 5-1, but Sharpe came back to win a thriller on a shoot off.

In the ladies recurve event, 5th seed Rebekah Tipping (Birmingham) claimed her second H2H Event title beating 2nd seed Emma Davis (Warwick) 6-2. Davis took the first set, before 3 ends of 26 saw Tipping to gold. Both women had overcome team-mates in the semis. Tipping beat top seed Eleanor Piper (Birmingham) in straight sets, whilst Davis won the 5th set to overcome 11th seed Hannah Burnage (Warwick) 6-4. Burnage was the only archer outside the women's top 8 to make the QFs. Tipping had beaten Monique Pascall (Birmingham City) 7-1 whilst Piper beat 3 time former winner Johanna Meyer (Edinburgh) 6-2. As well as winning an all Warwick semi, Emma Davis also won an all Warwick quarter, beating Sarah Allaway 7-1. Hannah Burnage had beaten Pip Taylor (Derby) 6-4 in that QF and went on to win bronze as she beat Piper 6-2.

Kai Thomas-Prause (Warwick) and Sarah Moon (Nottingham Trent) posted matching 147s to win the respective compound divisions, beating Ove Schoeppner and Beth Martel (both Edinburgh) in the finals. Thomas-Prause tied the gents All Unis record doing so. The ladies record used to be 145. Sarah Moon shot 146 in her semi-final and then added another point in the final. Kara Abraham (Edinburgh) and Rhys Harper (Lancaster) won bronzes, in Harper's case the same colour he won last year.

Suzannah Boardman (Leeds) won ladies barebow, the top seed overcoming 11th seed Eleanor Naccarato (Birmingham) 7-3 in the final. Naccarato herself came through an epic semi-final in a shoot off against eventual bronze medallist Paulina Zochowska (Swansea). There were nearly twice as many female barebows at the event than male barebows. Gents second seed Huw Vaughan-Jackson (West of England) beat Lonja Selter (Plymouth) in a close gents barebow final. 3-3 after 3 ends became 4-4 afer 4, before Vaughan-Jackson took the honours in the fifth. This is his third H2H Event title having won titles in 2014 and 2015. Daniel Kilgallon (Central Lancashire) won bronze.

This year the longbow field was mixed. Having broken his own All Unis record in the ranking round, Alex Newnes (Aberystwyth) produced yet another dominant performance, blowing his rivals away without dropping a single set.

See results in BUCS Outdoors section.