Editorial Articles (all) 2004/2005


British results from the WUSG [15/Aug/05]

Both Naomi Folkard and Danny Clifford made the last 16 of their respective disciplines before exiting the individual competition. There was disappointment elsewhere as all the other six team members lost their first round matches and the gents compound team fell at the first hurdle to Turkey.

GB's best qualifier was ladies recurve Naomi Folkard who qualified in 8th place. After receiving a bye in round of 64, Folkard eased past the Kazakhstani, Yelena Plotnikova 159-152 before going down 156-151 to nnith seed Tetyana Berezna of the Ukraine. Andy Callaway went out in the round of 64 to the impressively named Moho Khalmizam Wan Ab Aziz 162-158, despite outqualifying the Malaysian by nine places. There was better fortune for 13th placed qualifier Danny Clifford who thumped Jakob Mikeska of the Czech Republic 160-138 and then beat Malaysian Muhammad Marbawi Sulaiman 166-152. In the round of 16 however, he came up against Sung-Chil Hong of the mighty Korea, the 4th seed and bowed out 159-154. Hong will take part in an all Korean semi final.

All five of the compounds were first round (of 32) casualties. In the gents Tim Nash pushed fourth seed Logan Wilde of the USA but lost 157-152. David Wright was well beaten by Italian Sergio Pagni 160-149. Pagni later beat Wilde in the quarter finals. Unluckiest of all however was Neil Bowley who tied with American Jedd Greshock 160-160, a score which was more than enough to win most of the first round ties. Bowley lost the resultant shoot off 8-9. As for the Ladies compounds, Nicky Hunt lost to American Anna Stratton 143-139 and Hannah Walton lost to Turkey's own Nese Alptekin.

The Gents Compound team (Bowley/Nash/Wright) lost 15-17 to Turkey after qualifying in ninth position. More diary entries from Andy Callaway will follow.


International Rescue [08/Aug/05]

With the 23rd Summer Universiade (or World University Summer Games) just days away from beginning in Izmir in Turkey, I have published a new section on the UKSAA, accessible as usual from the LHS menu called "Internationals". All information regarding BUSA teams abroad will, in future go here. As a reminder, the whole event runs from the 10th to the 21st August, with archery competition running from Sat 13th to Tues 16th, medal matches on the last two days.

Andrew Callaway (Bournemouth) has kindly agreed (internet access permitting) to do a postcard from Turkey, letting us all know what's going on on and off the archery field. Those of you with longer memories might remember Dave Spinner's brilliant Postcard from Thailand in 2002. This is also available in the Internationals section, as are all the squads ever sent on these "jollies" since the very first FISU World University Archery Championships in France in 1996, info courtesy of John Sullivan who travels to Izmir as Team Manager.

Two other interesting pieces of information. There will be some media coverage of the Games (archery is not the only sport there!), particularly on Sky channel 411, which is apparently EuroSport UK 2. Also after Daegu 2003, Izmir 2005 is the second time archery has appeared as a guest sport at the World Uni Summer Games. If it appears a third time, it would become a compulsory sport (rather than a guest sport), but the specialised FISU World University Archery Championships, next held in Slovakia in summer 2006, would be subsequently dropped.


Marie to return [27/Jul/05]

Q. What do archery, badminton, squash, tennis, orienteering, swimming, diving, waterpolo, trampolining and gymnastics all have in common?

A. At BUSA, they are all the responsibility of Marie Atkinson as from the beginning of August. Kelly Walton, who you would have seen acting as the Lady Paramount at BUSA Outdoors is replacing a departing member of staff and Marie is returning from maternity leave on Tuesday 2nd August. Thanks to Kelly for looking after us whilst Marie was away, Marie's email address, for all those queries you might have, is marie@@busa.org.uk, the BUSA website is in its usual place, www.busa.org.uk.


Team for Turkey annouced [15/Jul/05]

The British student team, competing at the World University Games to be held a Izmir, in Turkey in August of this year has been announced by John Sullivan. A total of 8 archers will be sent as follows:

  • Gents Recurve: Andrew Callaway (Bournemouth)
  • Gents Recurve: Danny Clifford (Loughborough)
  • Ladies Recurve: Naomi Folkard (Birmingham)
  • Gents Compound: David Wright (Northumbria)
  • Gents Compound: Tim Nash (Barts & the London)
  • Gents Compound: Neil Bowley (Nottingham Trent)
  • Ladies Compound: Nicky Hunt (Coventry)
  • Ladies Compound: Hannah Walton (Edinburgh)

Unfortunately, this team selection means that only gents compound will be able to compete in the team event. The Games will run from the 11th to the 21st August. Official archery practice will be on Friday 12th, with the qualification round (6 dozen @ 70m) on the Saturday. Individual elimination rounds, up to and including the quarter-finals, will be held on Sunday. The team elimination rounds will all be held on Monday 15th and the individual semi-finals and medal matches will be held, one match at a time, on Tuesday 16th.

The web address of the English language version of the Games website is www.universiadeizmir.org/en/ so check this out for the most up-to-date information. Good luck, folks.


Regional Leagues grow in numbers [11/Jul/05]

There are poised to be a few changes to the regional leagues in advance of the 2005/06 season. SUSF (which oversees SUSF Archery) is becoming SUS (Scottish University Sport) after a merger with another body. The implications of this for the archery league and championships are unlikely to be huge. Sadly, SUSF Non-Student Co-ordinator Matt Nowicki is not continuing in the role. In his one season in charge he has effected sweeping reform to attempt to shake what was once the UK's most successful regional league from its apathy. Any sign of the SUSF Outdoor results, Aberdeen? This task now falls to Steven Wicks (ex-Dundee) who has a tough act to follow. New club Napier will also be joining the league from 2005/06 and have targeted a top half finish in their first season.

Perhaps the biggest changes will occur in the South East. Southampton will make a little bit of history as they move from SWWU to SEAL and become the first university club to compete in two different leagues. ULU have been resurrected after a year in the doldrums and will return to SEAL in 2005/06. Reading, another new club this year. also look set to join up, but the omens are not good for Sussex, who failed to complete their SEAL fixtures and did not attend BUSA Indoors or Outdoors. James Thatcher (Imperial) takes over from his team-mate Gavin Simmons as the league's organiser.

Elsewhere, in SWWU, Aberystwyth are being sought as replacements for Southampton as Roxanna Snooke (Exeter) takes over from Nick Fisher (Bath). Keele should be added to an otherwise unchanged NEUAL, Michael Ward (now ex-York) running the league for its, and his, fourth year. BUTTS remains unchanged although a replacement for Paul Hawkins (Birmingham) the outgoing organiser is still to be found.

This season the number of teams who took part regularly in the leagues was 27. This could rise as high as 33 for next season.


NEUAL Clout Champs [28/Jun/05]

Individual winners were Gavin Koncar (Durham) and Shelley Hurst (Bradford), Durham claimed team prize just ahead of Bradford. The full results can be seen in the NEUAL section. The rest of the review is written by Gavin Koncar.

This year the annual NEUAL clout took place on Sunday 12th June. Although many Universities had already finished for the year nearly 30 people entered, it promised to be a great day!

Things started well, with two hours of practice in the morning, it was amusing to see everyone attempt to gain a sight mark as the majority of people had not shot a clout before! However, as forecast, the weather was not on our side, everyone got drenched, but it was good to see that smiles were still on everyone’s faces. Obviously by “sods law” when our lunch break came; it stopped raining.

Having dried off and stomachs full, it was time for the afternoons’ competition. With the friendly banter continuing, the shoot got underway, it wasn’t our day; as soon as we had started shooting the rain decided once again to drench us, this time with out stopping!! Shooting continued until the fourth dozen where we unanimously decided to stop, this was the point where score sheets could no longer be written on due to the sheer volume of rain!

One thing that all archers will remember is the ‘jogger’ who decided go under all the safety barriers and run behind the clout flag in one direction; come back in the other way whilst doing stretches behind the clout flag!


BUSA Outdoors 2005 Review [21/Jun/05]

BUSA Outdoor Championships returned to its magnificent adopted home of Lilleshall NSC for the fifth consecutive year on Saturday 18th June. Yet again the attendance records for this tournament was broken, with 209 competitors from a 37 institutions present. On a very hot, but occasionally quite breezy day, there were some very special performances from all corners of the field. The 63 bosses needed squeezing in to the field and even the area set aside for camping was increased to cope with the student archery invasion.

Edinburgh won the BUSA Outdoors team crown yet again, leaving their rivals trailing behind them, with a BUSA Outdoors and All Uni Comps record score of 3598. Emma Downie led the team home with a booming 932, followed by Tim Mundon (896), Jenny Jeppsson (890) and Matt Nowicki (880). Any team seeking to beat that record must effectively average 900. Cambridge and Imperial could not keep up under the weight of points scoring but spent the day swapping silver and bronze between them, the BUTTS side eventually taking 2nd place with 3421, their best finish since 2001 when they also hosted, their team comprising Clare Hooley (890), James Keogh (880), Ian Caulfield (826) and Pamela Custance-Baker (825). Imperial's bronze medal winners on 3368 were David Wilson (869), Nicole Savvides (866), Veronica Bray (826) and Eloise Fowler (807). York were fourth for most of the day and were unable to make up enough ground on the leaders. Their team comprised Michael Ward (802), Beckie Senior (802), Dave Cox (777) and James Wickens (753). The NEUAL champions stayed 90 points ahead of Oxford who were led by novice Katie Hoskins (816), the rest of the team comprising of experienced gents Chris Buckingham (758), Geoff Hyett (758) and Ioannis Hodges-Mameletzis (711). Oxford's total of 3043 was just enough to hold off SWWU Champions Exeter who finished sixth, without Andy Tan, on 3015, 28 points behind. Exeter's team comprised Louise Colville (826), James Suckling (788), James Quincey (712) and novice Dorothee Roger (689). Behind the leading six, Bath were seventh on 2725, top scorer Karen Atkins (854). Durham held off Surrey by the margin of only six points to cling on to eighth place overall, Sheffield were tenth, a further 40 points back.

Cambridge novices added BUSA Outdoor team gold to go with BUTTS success and BUSA Indoor silver. They took the lead from the start and never looked like losing it, even without Tonyee Chow absent due to illness. Their team score was 2146 and their team comprised Robin Bacon (774), Simon Heistercamp (696) and Helen Markland (676). Second team was the darker blue of Varsity rivals Oxford with 2018, team comprising Katie Hoskins (816), Ben Rudge (630) and Hannah Barnes (572). Durham and Edinburgh amazingly finished level on points on 1982, Durham taking the medals by the margin of 314 hits to 310, Edinburgh suffering have only brought three novices, all gents. Durham's novice team comprised Laure Bourguignon (749), Gavin Koncar (630) and James King (603), whilst Edinburgh's comprised Richard Townsend (698), Andre Costa (658) and Michael Clark (626). York were alone in fifth on 1904, top scorer David Amey (740) ahead of Surrey sixth on 1871, top scorer Jamie Goodliffe (711) and Exeter seventh on 1804, top scorer Dorothee Roger (689).

Andrew Callaway (Bournemouth) became the first man to successfully defend the BUSA Outdoors title winning with 902 points, six ahead of 2003 champion Tim Mundon (Edinburgh) who finished second on 896 after recovering from an indifferent start. Tom Duncan (Heriot-Watt) was third on 890 and claimed bronze ahead of Jon Paradi (Brunel) fourth on 884. Matt Nowicki (Edinburgh) and James Keogh (Cambridge) needed golds to decide fifth place, when they both finished on 880. Nowicki, the outgoing SUSF Non-Student Co-ordinator got the nod 71 to 66. David Wilson (Imperial) completed the leading group on 869 in seventh. Barry Cottrell's (Surrey) 832 kept him ahead of event organiser Ian Caulfield (Cambridge) who scored 826. BUTC 2005 organiser Chris Goodman (Nottingham) was tenth on 818, ahead of Gregor Schnuer (Edinburgh) on 814. Michael Ward (York) in his farewell performance was the twelth gent to exceed 800 on 802, with Dominik Schindler (Cambridge) 797 and Richard Nicol (Napier) 796 falling just short of that mark.

The ladies competition was blown away by a stunning performance by Emma Downie (Edinburgh). Her score of 932 breaks the old record shot by Ros Bowen for Heriot-Watt three years before - no lady has ever been within even 15 points of this mark. Emma won the novice ladies title in 2003, but this spectacular score is a new BUSA and All Unis record. The 2004 champion Marietta Scott, in her last BUSA performance of a medal laden career, despite shooting 920, the third highest ever score in this competition had to settle for silver. 2003 champion Lorna Provan (Heriot-Watt) was third with 894. Just behind the medals, tied for fourth were Jenny Jeppsson (Edinburgh) who was also fourth last year and Clare Hooley (Cambridge) both on 890 with 70 golds. Both having finished on 874 Joanna Lymboussis (Edinburgh) pinched sixth place from Naomi Faulkner (Leeds Met.) 68 golds to 64. Nicole Savvides (Imperial) 866, Manda Gibson (Leicester) 862 and Karen Atkins (Bath) 854 completed the top ten.

As for novice recurves, Robin Bacon (Cambridge) was first (and 17th gent overall) with 774, over thirty points clear of David Amey (York) second on 740. Third place went to Robert Radcliffe (Sheffield) whose 715 just kept out Jamie Goodliffe (Surrey) on 711. Richard Townsend (Edinburgh) was fifth on 698 just ahead of Simon Heistercamp (Cambridge) 696. In the ladies novices section Katie Hoskins (Oxford) was the run away winner (and 16th lady overall) on 816 with Laure Bourguignon (Durham) second on 749. Katie Marsden (Nottingham) was third on 710, with Dorothee Roger (Exeter) 689 and Helen Markland (Cambridge) 676 just outside the medals.

Justin Gibbs (UC Northampton) won the Gents Compound division with 946 ahead of Neil Bowley (Nottingham Trent) on 940 and Andrew Ward (Edinburgh) on 938. Colin Geenes (Coventry) was fourth out of a field of twelve on 924. Nicky Hunt (Coventry) won Ladies Compound (on the Albion) by the emphatic margin of 62 points with 902, just 2 short of the exisiting record. Hannah Walton (Edinburgh) was second on 840. Also James Cowie (Loughborough) shot a limited compound and scored 784.

Ladies Barebow was won by Emily Rothman (York) with 516, which is a new BUSA and All Uni Comps record from a field of four. Peter Roach (Sheffield) was the only Gents Barebow and scored 91. Gents Longbow had seven competitors and was won convincingly by Tom Clint (Dundee) with 327, another BUSA and All Unis record - his nearest challenger was Ian Ogilvy (Exeter) exactly 100 points behind. Matt Lund (Durham) scored 143 to break the equivalent novice record. There were no Ladies Longbows.

SUSF were the Regional League Championship Team winners with 3612 and a team of Emma Downie, Tim Mundon (both Edinburgh), Lorna Provan and Tom Duncan (both Heriot-Watt). SEAL were second with Jon Paradi (Brunel), David Wilson, Nicole Savvides (both Imperial) and Barry Cottrell (Surrey) on 3451. BUTTS were third on 3421 their side the same as the Cambridge team. NEUAL were fourth, but only seven points behind BUTTS, and SWWU were fifth on 3218. The equivalent Novice competition saw BUTTS win with a score of exactly 2300 and a team of Katie Hoskins (Oxford), Rob Bacon (Cambridge) and Katie Marsden (Nottingham). NEUAL on 2204 were second, team comprising Laure Bourguignon (Durham), David Amey (York) and Robert Radcliffe (Sheffield). SUSF were third with Richard Townsend, Andre Costa and Michael Clark (all Edinburgh - the only Scottish uni to bring novices), while SEAL were fourth and SWWU were fifth.

The Home Nations event was very closely fought with the difference as low as 2 points after 2 distances. However is was Scottish Unis who emerged triumphant as the SUSF team (as above) 3612 was just too much for the English Uni's team score of 3596, team comprising Marietta Scott (Manchester), Andrew Callaway (Bournemouth), Clare Hooley (Cambridge) and Jon Paradi (Brunel). Welsh Unis were third on 2034. In the novices competition, English Unis far ournumbered the Scottish and Welsh unis. They totalled 2339 from Katie Hoskins (Oxford), Rob Bacon (Cambridge) and Laure Bourguignon (Durham). The Scottish Unis team is as the SUSF team above.

BUSA Outdoors is always a great weekend and the day lasted from 6am til well after the following 6am. All the customary thanks are due to all the customary people without which an event this size would gently descend into chaos, notably event organiser Ian Caulfield, but also Cambridge Uni AC, the black-shirted shades-sporting ACME, and Lilleshall who had to squeeze in extra bosses because of the number of entrants and whose other fields we so merrily set fire to on an annual basis. Also thanks to the Lady Paramount and BUSA's Archery Person Kelly Walton to travelled up to witness the largest ever BUSA Outdoors now in its fifth year at Lilleshall. The eagle eyed may also have spotted her getting to have a go from a few metres after the prize giving. This tournament will certainly have left her under no illusions about the health of archery in the universities.


Slovakia or bust [10/Jun/05]

Assuming archery forms a part of the 2006 World University Championships in Slovakia, the qualification scores required have now been published, in advance of the 2005 Outdoor season. The type of scores preferred at FITA scores, particularly those 70m scores. You have to be aged 17 to 27 on the 1st January 2006 and you're eligible if you're a student at that time, or if you graduated in 2005.

The basic qualification scores themselves are available from the Resources section - make sure you read the whole document thoroughly.


Results round up [28/May/05]

There were big wins for the White Rose and the Light Blues in the Roses and Varsity matches, both held over Albion/Windsor format like BUSA Outdoors. York beat Lancaster 2977 to 2048 with a team comprising of top scorer and novice David Amey, breaking 800, Ryan Lewis, Dave Cox and Dan Parnham. Lancaster's team was Ben Tucker, Jenny Green and novices Matthew Armstrong and Matt Ward. York's novice team also won easily. The individual winners were David Amey and Beckie Senior (York).

Further south Cambridge got the better of Oxford by 3262 to 2965. The light blues team was lead home by Clare Hooley on 866, with Pamela Custance-Baker, Ian Caulfield and Dominik Schindler, ahead of the dark blues team of Chris Buckingham, Geoff Hyett, Heather Golding and Alex Shutter. There was also a convincing win for Cambridge's novices. Clare Hooley and Chris Buckingham were the individual winners.

Back in York the individual head to head competition ran successfully. A competition full of surprises and upsets eventually saw Dave Edmonds (Bradford [corr.]) beat James Wickens (York) in the gents final, whilst Laural Bowker (Liverpool) beat Shelley Hurst (Bradford) in the ladies. Full results of all these will be made available.

With the results from SUSF Outdoors held on 7th May apparently still in Aberdeen and SWWU's fifth leg scores awaiting postal numbers from Swansea, BUSA Outdoors is now, effectively the last remaining event of the season. As this is exam season, best of luck with those, before we can get on with the real business of student archery in Lilleshall on 18th June.


York complete NEUAL clean sweep. [25/May/05]

York retained their NEUAL Outdoors title with victory on their home ground. York's top scorer was novice David Amey, the rest of the team was Beckie Senior, Dave Cox and Ryan Lewis. Durham beat Bradford to second, their team comprising Gavin Koncar, James King, Laure Bourguignon and Anna Breitbart, club captain Breitbart the only senior representative. Bradford's team was made up solely of seniors, Shelley Hurst, Dave Edmonds, Mark Dobson and Andy Rogers picking up team bronze.

Koncar, King and Bourguigon also won team novice gold for Durham handing York their first NEUAL novice defeat this season. Sheffield, in their debut season in NEUAL picked up their first team medals, with third novice team.

In the individual competition Tom Duncan (ex York, now Heriot-Watt) beat Grant Womack (ex York) 898 to 874. First place amongst NEUAL gents however went to Martin Shaw (Lancaster) with 749, holding off a very strong challenge from York novice David Amey's 736, forty points clear of clubmate Dave Cox who was third and lead the chasing pack. The ladies field was much more spread out with solo shooters Naomi Faulkner (Leeds Met.) 896 and Laurel Bowker (Liverpool) 771 first and second. Beckie Senior (York) was third on 735. Amey and Rosie Waller (York) won individual novice categories. There were also 2 All Uni Comps Records broken, so congratulations to Emily Rothman (York) Ladies Barebow Experienced Windsor and Robbie Game (Durham) Gents Longbow Experienced Albion.


Warwick wear BUTTS crown. [20/May/05]

Warwick won the final BUTTS leg of the season, ahead of Cambridge 2195 to 2149. Jon Shaw, an ever present for Warwick in this BUTTS campaign was the top scorer with 569, Tom Kemp on 554, with good support from Tim Ware and Charles Manville. After victory over Oxford in the Varsity Match, there was disappointment for Cambridge for whom Dominik Schindler's 552 was the high score as they surrendered their senior BUTTS crown to Warwick. However in better news for the Light Blues, their novice team won their fourth leg of the season to easily win the BUTTS novice league. Top novice Helen Markland also made the senior team with 521, in a novice team of four score of 2021 - only bettered by the top two senior teams.

Oxford's Dark Blues finished a distant third in the leg and in the senior table, whilst Birmingham pipped Loughborough to fourth place overall. Nottingham also recorded their first 5th placed finish all season, but still finish bottom of the table. In the novice league, Birmingham finished second overall, just ahead of Warwick, with Nottingham in fourth. Loughborough and Oxford, who have often fielded incomplete teams bring up the rear of the novice table.

The battle between Warwick and Cambridge has been the most intriguing and closely fought in all the regional leagues and has provided BUTTS with its third different champion in three seasons. Warwick have had a good season, fourth at BUSA Indoors and only 6 points away from team medals, Tom Kemp winning individual bronze at the same event, second seeds and quarter-finalists at BUTC, Kemp third highest gents qualifier, and now BUTTS champions, an accolade they richly deserve for four leg victories out of six and a season where they established themselves as one of the leading uni clubs in Britain.


BUTTS tight as last leg looms [05/May/05]

Cambridge won the penultimate BUTTS leg with three scores in the 540's from Dominik Schindler, Pamela Custance-Baker and Ian Caulfield 540 for a team total of 2149, 31 points ahead of Warwick despite Jon Shaw's magnificent 574. Warwick are top of the table but only on points aggregate by only 69 from Cambridge. Oxford moved up to third in the table with third place but are no less than ten league points adrift with one leg remaining. The result leaves the last BUTTS leg (to be held in Nottingham on 7th May) as effectively a shoot out between the pair. However BUTTS rules are that a university may discard its worst league points finish from a leg, in the season.

That means Warwick can discard a third, whereas Cambridge must discard a second giving Warwick a one point advantage. A last leg victory for Warwick would, naturally be enough, but (calculators at the ready folks) as long as Warwick finish only one place behind the Light Blues they should win the title.

The BUTTS novice table sees Cambridge on 24 (21 dropping lowest score), Warwick on 23 (19) and Birmingham on 22 (20). Any of these three could win - there are too many possibilities for my brain although if Cambridge can win their fourth consecutive novice leg in Nottingham this weekend, they will be clear champions. Also the weekend sees the SUSF Outdoor Championships, definitely going ahead in Aberdeen and the Roses match between York and Lancaster.


Swings and Roundabouts [20/Apr/05]

Recently published on the BUSA site and now from the Resources section on this site are the results of various questionnaires about what round BUSA and in particular BUSA Outdoors should be. Currently the tournament format is scheduled to change at BUSA Outdoors 2007, however such changes are only pencilled in and are subject to reivew. So if you disagree - get in touch with the SMG.

Whatever round you shoot, whoever puts most arrows nearest the middle is a sure fire winner. So in that sense the whole debate is semantics. However the winners of the Albion/Windsor tournament are effectively decided by the opening distance. A poor dozen here can wreck a score because at the closer distance, the average score differential (value between a "good" and a "bad" score) is very small. You can see this situation taken to extremes by top compound archers at 50 yards where anything less than full points can be a problem.

It is admissable to argue that novices (and barebows and longbows) will suffer, pinging six arrows into the grass at 70m, but, like it or not, the BUSA Championships are not aimed at novices. In fact it was only as recently as 2002 that BUSA were persuaded to recognise novice (or "Shield" as they call it) as a category at all. Most regional leagues have an outdoor component so novices are not without the opportunity to acquaint themselves with wind and rain. In any case shouldn't we be giving them the opportunity to have a go at a harder round.

It has been argued that making the competition harder will reduce the numbers of those entering. I would go to the BUSA Championships regardless of the round, simply because it is the BUSA Championships and they are same conditions for everyone - even if the round is a little harder to shoot. I guess it comes down to how much you like the security blanket of the Albion/Windsor. FITA, Albion, Popinjay, whatever. Beer and campfires still exists, so BUSA Outdoors will do just fine.


The Great Outdoors meets the H2H [11/Apr/05]

Now that warmer weather is (steadily) coming upon us, thoughts turn to the Outdoor season. As well as the traditional season finale, BUSA Outdoors there are several other tournaments invading exam season. SUSF and NEUAL Outdoors and a BUTTS leg have always featured in the early part of the Outdoor season. The Southern Universities' Championships is being held at Uni of Surrey, on Saturday 23rd April, closing date three days beforehand. The round has been changed to an Albion - for an entry form contact Tim Fox me21tf@surrey.ac.uk. Also two SWWU legs (at Swansea and Southampton) will take place - the round for the Swansea leg confirmed as a National.

However this year there is a new and decidedly different competition. Effectively it is a cut down version of the Olympic Round, with a 122cm face at 50m, 6 dozen ranking round then individual H2Hs over 18 and then 12 arrows. There is likely to be a small entry fee (~£4). Priority will initially be given to NEUAL archers. The project is the brainchild of Grant Womack (York) and discussions can be seen on the York message board. As can be seen there, the competition is still in the developmental stages, but should hopefully grow into an important part of the outdoor calendar. Further information, including the entry form, will become available on UKSAA site as it becomes available.


Imperial march SEALs title [04/Apr/05]

Imperial won the SEAL championship with an emphatic 125 point victory over second placed Surrey, 2181-2056. David Wilson top scored for the London side with 564 for whom Chris Eames contributed a valuable 553. Barry Cottrell top scored for Surrey with 561, but Surrey lack of strength in depth at this match meant they were always struggling. Imperial have completed their SEAL campaign and recorded a perfect three wins out of three but still leaves Surrey favourite to grab the runners up spot. This was an especially appropriate way for Imperial to win their first SEAL title as they were denied so narrowly by Surrey last season.

In SEAL's novice competition, Imperial's novice team lost to Surrey and as the table now stands, Surrey can afford to lose their remaining match against Sussex, as long as they score over 1187. This seems well within their grasp given they managed 1405 with only three archers against Imperial who still lead the table.

There is excellent news on the horizon for SEAL as next season ULU look set to re-join the league to boost the numbers back up to five teams. Also with a new club emerging at Reading, that number looks set to rise again to six. There are two remaining matches this season, as yet without dates: Sussex v Surrey and Brunel v Sussex.


St Guinness' Day [17/Mar/05]

Since it is St. Patrick's day, I thought an Irish story might be in order. In the Republic of Ireland there is also a university archery league with eight regular teams this season. It's a mixed team of 5 event where beginners shoot Portsmouths and advanced archers shout FITA 18s. Interestingly, beginners do not stay beginners for their first academic year, but move up into the advanced category as soon as they score 400+ on the Portsmouth.

This season DIT (Dublin Institute of Technology) and UL (University of Limerick) have been fighting it out for the title, but with one leg remaining, DIT appear to have taken a decisive lead. UCD (University College Dublin) hold a narrow lead over NUI Maynooth in third. Sinead Cuthbert (DIT) with 543 has posted the highest FITA 18 score this season, Daniel Walsh (UL)'s 539 the highest male score - they top the individual gender based tables. A small band of Irish Uni archers was last seen on these shores at BUSA Outdoors 2004 finishing well ahead of Welsh Unis, but with only 5 in their team, well behind England and Scotland. Hopefully they will be back in greater numbers soon.

You can see how the Irish Intervarsity League is going by clicking on the link on the left hand menu, or alternatively visit the UCD website on www.ucd.ie/archery for more info about the Irish student archery "scene".


Dust settles on Exeter success [11/Mar/05]

We have had a little while to reflect on the nationals and it seems clear that both participation and the average quality of the field is going steadily upwards. Despite Edinburgh's formidable displays, the university club gaining most prestige over the last two weeks was undoubtedly Exeter. The team bronze medals at BUSA Indoors were no fluke either, with a top 10 individual gent (Andy Tan) and top 5 individual lady (Louise Colville). Their novice team was only a handful of points from the medals and featured Dorothee Roger who won ladies novice category quite comfortably, only just missing out a senior team space - watch out for her shooting the Windsor at Lilleshall.

At BUTC, quite apart from the obvious triumph of their A side, Exeter B also got to the quarter finals, having qualified eighth and eventually placing seventh beating Liverpool A and NEUAL champions' York's A team along the way. Exeter's A side qualified third and progressed smoothly through the early rounds before a gritty wins over Bath A and Edinburgh B took them to the title. Bath themselves enjoyed a very successful BUTC, qualifying 10th but shooting superbly to beat superior qualifiers Cambridge B and Warwick A. The SWWU pair go head to head again in Bath this weekend, level on points at the top of the league.

Elsewhere York wrapped up the formalities of a third successive NEUAL title, where they remain unbeaten at senior level since that league's autumn 2002 inception. Edinburgh will attempt to maintain an unbeaten SUSF record of the exactly same length when they make the short trip north to St Andrews for SUSF Indoor Champs.


BUTC 2005 [08/Mar/05]

Exeter A (Andy Tan, Louise Colville and James Suckling) won BUTC 2005 in Nottingham, taking a big lead and then surviving a big comeback from Edinburgh B (Jenny Jeppsson, Jo Lymboussis and Gregor Schnuer) who had finished top qualifiers. Bath A (Karen Atkins, Andy Halcrow and Paul Ylioja) overcame Cambridge A (James Keogh, Matt Johnson and Pamela Custance-Baker) to win bronze, both medal matches watched by a crowd of about 150 loudly appreciative supporters.

In qualifying Edinburgh B pulled away from the rest of the pack, including their own A team, Warwick A, Exeter A and Cambridge A. Edinburgh B featured three of the four who had won BUSA Indoors the week before and their score of 813 cruised well past the team record. Warwick A (Tom Kemp, Jon Shaw, Charles Manville) qualified second, also breaking 800 on 802. Exeter A were third on 799. Edinburgh A (Matt Nowicki, David Lange and Emma Downie) eventually qualified fourth with 787 after having recovered from a poor start. Cambridge A completed the leading group fifth on 782. Lancaster A, Cambridge B and Exeter B made up the top eight out of a field of 31 teams. Defending champions York A were 9th, a point ahead of Bath A. Loughborough A were 11th ahead of Birmingham A. Imperial's A team out-qualified their B team by only 5 points, the pair finishing 13th and 14th. The top sixteen was completed by York B and Surrey.

As for the individuals, James Keogh (Cambridge A) won the gents division with 277, three points clear of Andy Tan (Exeter A), who was himself three points clear of Tom Kemp (Warwick A). Matt Nowicki (Edinburgh A) was fourth on 269 and followed by two Shaws, Jon (Warwick A) on 268 and Martin (Lancaster A) on 266. Vince Tse (Southampton) was 8th on 265. In the ladies field Naomi Folkard (Birmingham A) shattered the ladies record with 288, well clear of Jenny Jeppsson and Jo Lymboussis (both Edinburgh B) on 276 and 274, all three exceeding the previous mark of 271. Eloise Fowler (Imperial B) was fourth on 264, one ahead of Louise Colville (Exeter A) one ahead of Shelley Hurst (Bradford A). Alex Lyne (Loughborough) broke the novice gents record with 262, ahead of David Amey (York A) on 258, whilst Dorothee Rodger (Exeter B) destroyed the previous novice ladies record by over 40 points with 252.

With only Edinburgh B securing a bye into round 2, the familiar 40cm faces gave way to the nine yellow dots on the black foam boss that make up a Beiter hit-miss target. Straight away the difference was obvious as arrows and discs went flying into the air - a true spectacle for the onlookers. Edinburgh A laboured to a very unconvincing 5-4 win over Sheffield B, 25 places and 260 points behind them in the qualifying round, but without doubt the result of the first round was Southampton's Olympian effort to beat Birmingham A 11-10. Southampton had looked finished 5-8 down going into the last pass, but faintest of line cutters in the last end gave victory to the south coast side. Both A and B teams from Cambridge, Exeter and Imperial all went through all comfortably except Imperial B who were made to sweat by Warwick B before eventually winning 7-6. There was disappointment for the hosts as they received tough matches, Nottingham A losing to Imperial A and Nottingham B losing to Exeter A. York A held off a spirited Lancaster B 7-5, the first meeting of the Roses at a BUTC. Elsewhere Durham A beat Surrey 8-5 and Loughborough and Lancaster A set up a second round clash, whilst the A teams of Bath, Bradford and Warwick completed comfortable wins, Warwick's 15-3 win over ULU a new record.

In round 2, defending champions York A slipped out of the competition going down to Exeter B 7-3, whilst Exeter's A team won against Imperial B. There was double trouble for Imperial as Imperial A lost 10-6 to Edinburgh A who appeared to be finding some rhythm at last. Edinburgh B edged through 8-5 over Durham A. Southampton, at 21, were the lowest ranked team left in could not repeat their previous heroics and went down 13-6 to Cambridge A. Tie of the round was sixth seeded Lancaster A against eleventh seeded Loughborough which finished 6-6 and went to a tie break. Underdogs Loughborough were cool under pressure as the whole hall stopped to watch the three arrow shoot off which Loughborough won 2-0. Form teams Bath A and Warwick A set up a quarter-final meeting with wins over Cambridge B 12-6 and Bradford A 10-5 respectively.

In the quarter-finals there was the possibility of an all-Edinburgh semi-final but this was brutally swept aside by Cambridge A who opened up a 7-1 lead after the first pass. The experienced Edinburgh A team closed the gap significantly but were left with too much to do, the final score 13-11. Second seeds Warwick A were simply blown away by a stunning performance from tenth seeds Bath A, 15-9. Exeter A also hit 15 times to put an emphatic end to Loughborough's good run 15-7. Edinburgh B faced the other remaining B team, Exeter B and simply had too much for their opponents winning 14-9.

The first semi-final was Cambridge A against Edinburgh B. Last year York A had to beat both Edinburgh sides to secure the title and Cambridge A needed to do the same here. However even Cambridge A's third consecutive score of 13 was not nearly enough as Edinburgh B thumped down 17 hits, claiming a new record in the process - BUTC 2005 another chapter in the great rivalry between these two clubs. Then followed the second semi-final between Bath A and Exeter A. The two teams are (at time of writing) locked together at the top of the SWWU league and both had been in imperious form all day, Bath A looking to defeat their third higher ranked opponent after Cambridge B and Warwick A. Exeter A proved a step too far however as the BUSA Indoor bronze medallists closed out a tight match 11-9. In the bronze medal match Bath A re-found their touch and crushed Cambridge A 16-10.

The BUTC 2005 final pitted Edinburgh B against Exeter A in front of a noisy crowd that numbered about 150. Both teams got off to a nervous start, Exeter 3-2 up after the first pass. It seemed that the first side to get over their nerves would go on to win and it was Exeter who struck that decisive blow in the second pass, winning that 7-3. At 10-5 down with nine arrows to fire, most sides would have been dead and buried, but not Edinburgh B who produced a thrilling come back to put Exeter under serious pressure. Exeter were not to be denied however and closed out the match to win BUTC 2005, their first national student title, 14-11.

Once again BUTC has shown itself to be the most spectacular and colourful event on the student archer calendar. With 31 teams it was also the largest BUTC so far and featured very high quality shooting with records falling in most categories. The competition was also special because it was the debut of Werner Beiter's hit/miss targets and the great man himself was present to witness the display and act as Lord Paramount, taking time to talk to many people over the course of the day and to the medal winners at the presentation. He was, by all accounts delighted by what he saw, both in terms of his targets (several people grabbing a 60mm yellow souvenir from the day) and the competition and the atmosphere. Such compliments carry more weight when you consider the amount of top level archery Werner Beiter has seen and is involved with.

Thanks are as ever due to a large number of individuals for getting this impressive show up and running, notably Tim Mundon, Chris Goodman and the army of Nottingham blueshirts and Ian McGibbon and the smaller army ACME blackshirts. Also many thanks to the insightful commentary and inimitable comedy of Dave Spinner and Chris "Warwick" Burnett. Both have commentated at BUTC before but this was first year together. Don't forget, if you think that ACME can help your university can host a magnificent tournament like BUTC get in touch with the UKSAA today.

Quarter Finals

  • Edinburgh B (1) beat Exeter B (8)
  • Cambridge A (5) beat Edinburgh A (4)
  • Exeter A (3) beat Loughborough (11)
  • Bath A (10) beat Warwick A (2)

Semi Finals

  • Edinburgh B beat Cambridge A
  • Exeter A beat Bath A

Third/Fourth place play-off

  • Bath A beat Cambridge A

Final

  • Exeter A beat Edinburgh B

Exeter, Bradford go top of Leagues [03/Mar/05]

One leg of the SWWU league was extracted from the BUSA scores - Exeter the unquestionable winners on 2224. Not only did they pick up their best ever national level finish and first medals, but the score also carries them to the top of the SWWU table, ahead of Bath on points aggregate. Bath remain in close attendance however finshing second in the leg on 2134, Southampton three league points behind. Exeter's novice team were fifth novice team overall at BUSA Indoors, but missed out on bronze there by only three points. Already top of the SWWU table, victory over the regional colleagues takes them three points clear of Bath and Southampton.

Further north the Durham v Bradford v Liverpool match was finally resolved after hall cancellations partly from postal and BUSA scores. Bradford won with 2076, only twelve points of Durham, but the result takes Bradford top of NEUAL albeit having played a game more. Durham won the novice match to go clear in second in the table.

Exeter's barnstorming performance at BUSA Indoors suddenly makes them serious contenders at BUTC. Their entered A team of Louise Colville, Andy Tan and James Suckling averaged over 560 on a Portsmouth in Loughborough - can they do something similar in Nottingham and also under the pressure of head-to-head shooting. The SWWU league has not been well represented at BUTC in the past two years, however this season SWWU will have five teams in the first round, with Bath (2), Exeter (2) and Southampton (1) all involved. NEUAL will have 13, BUTTS 8, and SEAL 4. In fact the least well represented league is SUSF, with only three teams, Edinburgh (2) and newly-formed Napier (1).


BUSA Indoors 2005 Review [28/Feb/05]

The sports hall at Loughborough was sufficiently gigantic to contain 36 bosses, but even this was only just enough to contain the 383 attending archers (including 151 novices) from a total of 39 different institutions who attended BUSA Indors 2005 on Saturday 26th February. A total of 351 recurve archers made this the largest recurve competition in the UK. Edinburgh won the senior team category with a booming 2264 (team comprising Claudine Jennings 576, Jo Lymboussis 572, Jenny Jeppsson 565 and Gregor Schnuer 551) ahead of old rivals Cambridge who weighed in with 2242 (team comprising James Keogh 585, Robert Dunn 558, Ian Caulfield 550 and Matt Johnson 549). Surprise packages of the tournament were Exeter who picked up third placed team with 2224 (team comprising Louise Colville 565, Andy Tan 561, James Suckling 558 and Andy Murphy 540) - the club's first national level medals. My tip for medals, Warwick were fourth (sorry about the jinx - Ed.) by only six points, Tom Kemp's 576 and Jon Shaw's 561 the highlights. Naomi Folkard's 591 secured Birmingham fifth spot with 2209 - only three points ahead of Imperial for whom David Wilson top scored with 575. Seventh placed Heriot-Watt on 2184 had Tom Duncan also top score on 575, but his old club York, last year's runners up could only manage eighth place despite scoring 2178. Oxford on 2152 and Bath on 2134 made up the top ten, out of no less than 29 universities with complete teams of four. It is very worth noting that in previous years any university going over 2200 has won a team medal, frequently gold. This year, Imperial's 2206 was only good enough for sixth.

Unusually gents recurve featured no past BUSA Indoor champions and so guaranteed a new one. Six gents notched 575 or more, but the gold medal was fought out between two of them. Cambridge's James Keogh won with 585, beating Jon Paradi of Brunel by a single point. Keogh adds this to his BUSA Outdoors win in 1998, but for Paradi it is a second consecutive silver in this competition and third BUSA silver overall. Keogh is the first Cambridge individual medallist at BUSA Indoors since Andy Somers in 1997. Tom Kemp (Warwick) grabbed individual bronze with 576, one point ahead of a pack containing defending BUSA Outdoor champion Andy Callaway (Bournemouth), David Wilson (Imperial) and Tom Duncan (Heriot-Watt) who were all locked together on 575. Golds left Callaway fourth on 41, Wilson fifth on 39 and Duncan sixth on 38. In seventh place, Jon Shaw (Warwick) led the rest of the field on 563, one point ahead of Chris Goodman (Nottingham), one point ahead of Andy Tan (Exeter). Ben Leighton (Durham) kept Dominic Rebelo (ULU) out of the top ten 29 golds to 25 on 559 points. One point behind them in twelfth was Robert Dunn (Cambridge) who out-golded James Suckling (Exeter) 28 to 25.

The ladies recurve division was dominated by Naomi Folkard (Birmingham). Her score of 591 not only carried Birmingham over 2200, but is only the third time a score over 590 has been recorded at a BUSA event. Edinburgh's formidable ladies section secured second third and fourth place. Claudine Jennings 576 enough for silver to see off clubmates Jo Lymboussis' bronze medal winning total of 572 and Jenny Jeppsson on 565 and 29 golds, two golds better than Louse Colville who was fifth. Lorna Provan (Heriot-Watt) was a point behind in sixth. Jacqui Gould (Greenwich) was seventh with 559. Karen Atkins (Bath) who won in 2002 was eighth on 558 ahead of Naomi Faulkner (Leeds Met) who was runner up last year by 28 golds to 22. Marietta Scott (Manchester), surely the most decorated individual in BUSA archery history recorded a miss and finished tenth on 553.

In the novice team category, Edinburgh were once again the team to beat with a comfortable 1531 (team comprising Michael Clark 521, Richard Townsend 516 and Emma Brodie 494). Cambridge doubled up on team silver with 1480 (team comprising Hang Tung Chow 513, Ivy Ko 485 and Simon Heisterkamp 482), whilst Leeds' total of 1472 pipped Durham's 1470 and Exeter's 1469 for bronze team medals (Leeds team comprising Richard Jowett 509, Mark Honess 505 and Duncan Sheard 458). James King with 522 top scored for Durham, Dorothee Rodger 535 top scored for Exeter and David Amey top scored for sixth placed York on 545. Twenty-four full novice teams of three competed.

As for the individual novice awards, even Amey's 545 was not enough to win gents novice however, as home favourite Alex Lyne (Loughborough) scored 551 to win, with David Amey (York) second. Paul Lockhart (Bournemouth) won bronze with 534. Twelve points further back on 522 was James King (Durham) ahead of Edinburgh duo Michael Clark on 521 and Richard Townsend 516 fifth and sixth and Leeds duo Richard Jowett on 509 and Mark Honess on 505 seventh and eighth. Dorothee Rodger continued Exeter's good day with novice ladies gold on 535 ahead of Cambridge's Hang Tung Chow on 513. Emma Brodie (Edinburgh) was third on 494. Fourth was Elizabeth Williams (Imperial) on 486, a point ahead of Katie Marsden (Nottingham) and Ivy Ko (Cambridge), Marsden grabbing fifth place 13 golds to 10.

Edinburgh won the unofficial compound team trophy with 1726 (team comprising Andrew Ward 581, Chris Millar 578 and John Bengtsson 568) from Loughborough and Nottingham. Individually, Colin Geenes (Coventry) won the gents with 584, clear of Andrew Ward (Edinburgh) on 581 and Tim Nash (ULU) on 578. Chris Millar (Edinburgh) just missed out on a medal in fourth, a point behind Nash. David Wright (Northumbria) was fifth on 571. Ladies compound was won by MaryAnn Richardson also on 571, one point short of one of oldest BUSA records - Emma Parker (Loughborough) shot 572 in 1997. Hannah Walton (Edinburgh) was second on 568 and Claudine Jennings (Edinburgh) won bronze with 564. Jennings' amazing medal haul of team recurve gold, individual recurve silver and individual compound bronze at a single championships is an unprecedented feat.

Barebow (17 combined entries) was won by Kelly Green (Bangor) with 455, leading barebow gent and second overall was Michaelo Martinicca (Leeds) on 445. Longbow (3 combined entries) was won by Tom Clint (Dundee) who broke the BUSA record with 412, leading longbow lady and second overall was Kate Todd (York) with 408, two off her own record.

Thanks are due to the organisers at Loughborough for their massive effort in bringing to life the biggest assembly of student archers ever seen. The total of 383 smashes last year's record of 345. Although only one BUSA record was actually broken (gents longbow), several were given a fright (senior team recurve, gents and lades recurve, ladies compound, ladies longbow). Six university clubs breached 2200, double than any previous year. Student archery gave the impression of beng in extremely rude health and I hugely enjoyed being on that side of the fence for a change.


In-form Warwick break 2200 [21/Feb/05]

Warwick picked up their third leg victory of the season with a booming 2208, nearly forty points clear of Cambridge in second. This result moves Warwick a point ahead of Cambridge at the top of the table. A disappointing fifth place for hosts Loughborough means that they lose ground and any realistic shot at the BUTTS title. Oxford were third in the leg and are now level with Loughbrough, but remain fourth on aggregate. Birmingham broke 2100 without Naomi Folkard in the side, but the story remains the same for Nottingham, now seven points adrift at the bottom. The novice league is incredibly close with Cambridge, Warwick and Birmingham all on 18 points. Cambridge have the better aggregate and look to be hitting form here however.

Warwick have emerged this season as arguably the leading English university club and most likely to derail Edinburgh's serene progress towards a third consecutive BUSA Indoor title. Their best recent BUSA Indoor result is fourth (in both 1997 and 1999) but this time they seem set to make the short trip home with medals of some colour to add to BUTC 2004 bronze, maybe more so now that they have won in Loughborough so soon before BUSA Indoors descends on the same venue. Three weeks before BUSA they were eight points short of 2200, now one week before they are eight points over it. That was the last meaningful regional result before BUSA Indoors and Warwick now look the real deal.


Hundreds and thousands [18/Feb/05]

The entry for BUSA Indoors stands at a mammoth 426, albeit including double-bowers twice. However this figure is still a huge increase on last year, which was an increase on the year before, which was an increase on the year before. For recurves, BUSA Indoors is now almost certainly the largest indoor competition in the UK.

Where is the limitless supply of archers coming from? Existing teams are bringing larger squads. The largest single group is from Warwick - no less than 26. Warwick are a team on the rise, with BUTC bronze medals last year and sit top of the BUTTS table with a leg tomorrow. In fact the smallest squad that a BUTTS team is bringing to BUSA is Oxford with 11, such is the strength of that league. Edinburgh and York both have 21 entries and are also regional league champions, Bath bring 20 and lead SWWU. The connection can be lost on no-one.

There are four "new" clubs who have also entered this tournament. By far the largest are Aberystwyth who have an astonishing 20 entries and mean that for the first time there will be more archers representing Welsh Universities than Scottish ones. Of the five clubs in regional leagues that have no-one entered, (Aberdeen, RGU, St Andrews, Strathclyde and Sussex) four are from SUSF. Keele (13), Reading (11) and Napier (7) will all be present and already all these three look set to be added in to their local leagues from October.

The most healthy statistic of all is that there are 177 novice entries. There are 31 compounds. The big day is a week tomorrow, although Loughborough will host their home BUTTS leg at the weekend, hoping to close the gap on Warwick and Cambridge. Dundee are also at home to RGU and Strathclyde. A win for the Taysiders would put them second in the SUSF table.


York win NEUAL Indoors [15/Feb/05]

York, who are unbeaten in NEUAL since its inception in 2002, triumphed again in Bradford at the NEUAL Indoor Champs from a combined field of just over 80 archers. With only one league match remaining for them (against Liverpool and Sheffield) they look set to maintain their formidable NEUAL record. Dave Cox again led the York total with 547, novice David Amey fired in a NEUAL record 543. Ryan Lewis 541 and Dan Parnham 537 kept York 55 points clear of Lancaster who finished second overall. The Red Rose team have had an yo-yo season. In four NEUAL competitions they have scored over 2100 twice, but under 2000 twice as well. Stephen Wain 541 and Martin Shaw 533 the springboard for the team total of 2113. Bradford were third overall a further 50 points behind. Paul Newnham top scoring with 531.

As for the novice competition, York's 1470 ran out easy winners, powered by David Amey 543, Ruth Harrison also breaking the 500 mark - the pair winning the individual novice awards. Leeds were second novice team on 1385, Richard Jowett's 493 the highest Leeds score on the day. James King top scored for third placed Durham with 502.

Ben Leighton (Durham) was first gent overall on 551, just holding off York duo Dave Cox and David Amey. Shelley Hurst (Bradford) won ladies recurve on 521, only two points ahead of Vickie Hinchcliffe who claimed Sheffield's first NEUAL medal. Sarah-Jane Clelland (Bradford) was third.

In other NEUAL news, the following weekend Durham played host to Lancaster and Sheffield. Ben Leighton (Durham) and Martin Shaw (Lancaster) jointly top scored with 556 [corr.] as Durham [corr.] saw off Sheffield in second. Lancaster were third, despite having beaten both other sides the week before, their team score dropping by 141 points. The novice teams finished in the same order as the seniors.


Werner Beiter to attend BUTC [11/Feb/05]

Werner Beiter himself will be attending BUTC 2005 and will be the Lord Paramount as well as witnessing his company's hit/miss targets in operation. It looks as though all spaces might be taken before the closing date, so get your entries in as soon as possible. The closing date for entering teams is Friday 25th February - two weeks away. Remember, if you wish, you can change the constituency of your team right up until registration.

The Beiter hit/miss targets that were to be used only from the quarter finals onwards, will now be used for the whole of the knock out phase. This means that matches in Rounds 1 and 2 (the last 32 and last 16) will now take place in batches of four rather than batches of eight. The object you have to hit is a yellow disc 6cm in diameter - that's the same as a recurve Portsmouth 10 ring. The nine discs are then arranaged in a three by three grid. The vertical distance between discs is 15cm (between centres) and the horizontal distance between discs is 18cm (between centres). There is no restriction in the order you shoot the discs in normal matches, although you only get the point once for each disc hit. For tie breaks you shoot the centre row from left to right, one arrow each.

As for accommodation, there are a few Nottingham archers with floor space, for full details email Chris Goodman. Alternatively, City of Nottingham Council has a good Where to stay guide. There is also cash prize for the first team to clean an entire end, i.e. score 9 hits out of 9 for a match. The prize is supplied by Nottingham Uni AC and is £30. There is a further prize of £50 for the first team to clean an entire match, i.e. 27 hits out of 27.

For full details go to the BUTC section (link on the left) and into the 2005 Info page.


Edinburgh win as Warwick re-take BUTTS advantage [07/Feb/05]

BUTTS looks set for a two way fight for the title after Warwick claimed a resounding 73 point home victory in the third of the six BUTTS legs. Warwick and Cambridge are locked on 16 points and are split on aggregate by 6491 to 6427. Tom Kemp and Jon Shaw were again the inspiration for Warick providing 562 and 560 respectively. Charles Manville and Tim Ware provided back up in the 530s as the hosts fell only 8 short of the magical 2200. The light blues of Cambridge could only manage 2119 in response, clinging on to second place in the leg by 8 points from old rivals Oxford on 2111. Loughborough (who were fourth in the match) remain third in the table but trail 5 points behind the leaders, two points ahead of Oxford who leapfrogged Birmingham into fourth.

In the novice table, a slip up from Birmingham meant that Warwick, Cambridge and Nottingham are all within striking distnace. Birmingham are now on 14 points followed by Warwick on 13, Cambridge on 12 and Nottingham on 11. Oxford overtook Loughborough at the bottom, despite Loughborough's Alex Lyne 527 once again by far the highest individual novice score, but unfortunately for Loughborough, it was shot as part of an imcomplete team.

The closeness of the BUTTS league is in stark contrast to a rather one sided SUSF. Edinburgh cruised to the SUSF League title with two wins in seven days. Joanna Lymboussis (573 and 571) and Jenny Jeppsson (562 and 575) were the lynchpins of a side which averaged over 560 for two matches. Remember Edinburgh do not field archers with full or half blues in SUSF league matches. Heriot-Watt became the first SUSF side to get within 200 points of Edinburgh - but only just. Watt only brought four archers to the match and neither Lorna Provan or Tom Duncan were able to stretch their city rivals in any way. Robert Gordon's meanwhile, in their home league match, fielded only two archers and one of them a novice. They failed to take advantage of Heriot-Watt's below par score and look set to finish bottom of the SUSF table.

Edinburgh would almost certainly win which ever regional league they were in. That would be expected of the BUSA champions, but once again the SUSF league has looked very easy - surely BUSA and BUTC will provide a tougher test. It's probably little consolation to Nottingham, who remain rooted to the foot of the BUTTS table after three last placed finshes out of three, but were they located in Scotland they could be picking up bronze medals rather than wooden spoons.


Camp America [02/Feb/05]

Camp America is a series of summer camps for kids. Mark Rosel, formerly Oxford Uni AC, has been out to the USA for two summers. Now working for the agency that he travelled with, he adds:

I went out to teach archery in a summer camp. I had an amazing time there. At the moment I am doing some work for the agency I went out to America with CLIA - www.campleaders.com. Camps there are woefully short of archery instructors in particular.

So if you are interested in being an instructor at such a camp in the USA, get in touch with Mark on mark.rosel@campleaders.com.


Leagues back with a bang [26/Jan/05]

The coming weekend sees the regional league program resume with matches at RGU, Imperial and Lancaster. In Scotland, Robert Gordon's play host to Heriot-Watt and Edinburgh. Either Heriot-Watt or Edinburgh look likely to carry away the SUSF League title. Edinburgh go in favourites but with Heriot-Watt as strong as they have been for several years, this promises to be a fascinating contest. Heriot-Watt last beat Edinburgh in May 2002 with a team comprising Derek Burrough, Ros Bowen, Robin Card and Colin McAllister.

Imperial College are at "home" to Surrey as both teams jostle for SEAL supremacy. Last season this fixture went to Imperial by a mere 8 points, 2116-2108. As for the SEAL title, points aggregate was needed to split Surrey Imperial and ULU who were all locked on 10 league points. Surrey squeezed through, having averaged over 2100. Both teams have won their opening matches this season quite comfortably - the Londoners slight favourite going into this match.

Lancaster, Leeds and Liverpool contest the weekend's other match in Lancaster - one L of a match. (I've been waiting a long time for that joke.) If Leeds win they can go temporarily second in the NEUAL table.


BUTC gets ready to rumble [10/Jan/05]

As announced before Christmas, Nottingham will be hosting BUTC 2005 - main contact is Chris Goodman whose email address is skippy.1440@btinternet.com. It will take place on Sunday 6th March in Nottingham University Sports Centre's large hall. The closing date for entries is Friday 25th February. Each university can enter up to two teams of any three recurve archers and to enter costs each team £24 - i.e. £8 each. The exact team line-ups can be played with until team registration itself at the beginning of the day.

The plan for the shooting is as follows. Registration opens at 10:30 [corr.] and you must register to compete. The hall for shooting itself an hour later, with sighters at 12:00 [corr.] sharp. Archers are recommended to get there early to ensure to last minute panics. The qualification round is half a FITA 18 (30 arrows from 18m at a 40cm face) and then teams progress to the knock-out phase. The first two rounds (last 32 and last 16) will be run as before with each match consisting of 3 ends and the loser being eliminated.

From the quarter-finals onwards this year however, we will be using 60cm Beiter hit/miss targets - one point is awarded for a hit and none for a miss. For a fuller (and better) description, go to at Chris Goodman's own online explanation. This promises to be a new and exciting development for BUTC, a real crowd pleaser and a taste of the highest levels of university archery. This, after all, is what the whole thing is about anyway.


Some silly statistics [05/Jan/05]

The Nedstat counter which records all visits to the UKSAA site is a constant source of information (and some amusement) to me since I added it in May 2002. 2004 was a record breaking year for the site with a grand total of 12672 hits, up by over 3000 from 2003's total. The site recorded over 100 hits in a single day no less than 11 times, including 2 days over 200 - all around the time of the publication of results from the three national tournaments. February 2004's total of 1876 hits was also the most ever for a calendar month.

I would be very surprised if the statistics continued to grow in such a manner as I sense we are approaching a saturation point. However I am of course delighted and flattered that so many people now visit the site so regularly as it vindicates the site's existence. The main reason I began the project back in February 2001 was after a SUSF League Match with Edinburgh, as an Edinburgh web author at the time, I wanted to know what the SUSF League Table looked like. To my surprise, I found it next to impossible to find out - from little acorns... Just recently I found and deleted an old page which had both the regional league tables (just SUSF and BUTTS in those days) and results on it. Just imagine trying to record the regional leagues on one page now.

I'll take this opportunity to say a special thank you to the 10 unhappy souls who visited the site on the 25th December itself. I don't quite know what you were expecting but I didn't update much site content at that time as I was far too busy receiving socks for Christmas.


NEUAL steps into Christmas [11/Dec/04]

There have been NEUAL wins for York and Bradford, who now sit first and second in the NEUAL table, three points clear of Leeds, Durham and Sheffield. York were comfortable winners over Durham and Leeds, Dave Cox, the top scorer again for the "White Roses" with 548 and Ryan Lewis on 541. Ben Leighton's 562 was the highest score of the match and was enough to keep Durham 50 points ahead of Leeds. Durham's senior team contained two novices - Leeds' senior team three. The team order was York, then Leeds then Durham for the novices, and this time York's margin of victory was cut from 224 to just nine. Ruth Harrison and David Amey recording 480 each to see the hosts home. Harrison and Amey also were the individual winners of the NEUAL novice champs, both breaking the 500 barrier.

A week later Sheffield made their long-awaited NEUAL debut in Bradford against the hosts and Leeds. The senior match itself was slightly disappointing with the gaps between the teams so large. Bradford hit 2100 on the nose with no team score lower than 510. Sheffield managed three shy of 1700 but Leeds fielded an incomplete side and were somewhat out of touch. Given that they scored 1841 only the week before, this could prove costly in the end of season standings. The was good news for Sheffield's novices who wrapped up a first NEUAL victory for the club by 60 points from Bradford.

These results leave York one result away from the chance to claim a senior/novice league double - that match is at home to Sheffield and Liverpool. Bradford look likely to have to settle for second place, but should York slip up in the new year could easily have enough aggregate points to snatch the title. Pleasingly, Sheffield are now fully integrated into NEUAL, two full seasons after they were part of the seven who formed the very first NEUAL in 2002.


Heriot Watt and Bath show fine early form [25/Nov/04]

Heriot Watt re-established themselves as credible opposition to Edinburgh in their home SUSF League match against Dundee and Aberdeen. Their team score of 2140 was achieved primarily from Lorna Provan and Tom Duncan (formerly of the York persuasion) with 567 and 566 respectively. Watt were nearly 400 points clear of Dundee who themselves were 150 ahead of Aberdeen. Aberdeen go top of the table, having played a game more. The showdown between Heriot-Watt and Edinburgh takes place on 29th January away at Robert Gordon's who have yet to play.

In the SWWU league, Bath defeated hosts Exeter, 2136 to 2085. BUSA Indoor 2002 champion, Karen Atkins top scored for Bath with 563, James Halcrow and Paul Ylioja providing solid support. Andy Tan with 562 and James Suckling 558 proved not quite enough for the hosts, although Exeter did win the novice team. Swansea were a distant third in both disciplines, Southampton did not attend, later submitting their scores by post [corr.] and then you have Plymouth. No-one seems to know what has happened to Plymouth - apparently they've had some kind of disagreement with their university and have disappeared, despite registering with GNAS.

Heriot-Watt denied Bath team bronze at BUSA Indoors 2001 by the margin of 96 golds to 71, the pair having finished dead level on points and hits. However, neither side has produced a top 10 finish at a BUSA competition in the last 2 years, and both will be looking for better seasons this time around. With good support for Atkins, Provan and Duncan, both teams could deliver handsomely. Results for the BUTTS leg at Oxford and the NEUAL match between Durham, Bradford and Liverpool [corr.] has been postponed. [corr.]


Stolen Kit Alert [24/Nov/04]

Some kit has been stolen from the Bedfordshire area, so keep novices in your club and indeed anyone else advised of the following:

Brown Yamaha Double sided Case, with Numerous archery related stickers on it

Contents of case:

  • Hoyt Radian (CNC Machined Riser) Burgundy, 68” 38 lbs Syntactic foam limbs (Silver Finish) with Beiter Clicker
  • Shibuya Sight, Black
  • Eason ACE Long Rod 24”, 2 Short Rods and V-Bar Extender.
  • AGF Adjustable V-Bar
  • 2x Shibuya DX Pressure Buttons, 1 Gold, 1 Black
  • ARC Systeme Pressure Button, Black
  • Monocular, Black in leather Case
  • Black/Silver Merlin 4-hole Quiver
  • 2 A&F Finger Tabs, (Red Anchor plate)
  • Angel Chest Guard, Blue
  • Saunders Arm Guard, Blue
  • Tollgate Fletching Jig, Yellow
  • 3 spools of Serving
  • Bjorn Serving Tool, Black

If you come across these items, please contact Paul Hyde on paul.hyde@hansonplc.com or 01234 762006. Or the police. Thanks to Claire Brockett for spotting this one.


London calling [18/Nov/04]

In the opening SEAL matches over the last two weekends, there were victories for Surrey and Imperial over Brunel and Sussex respectively, in both senior and novice team events. Surrey, in the first inter-university match of the season were 200 points clear of Brunel, Barry Cottrell scored 555 for the hosts who proved far too strong. Imperial scored 2114, an excellent team performance when you consider no individual exceded 550, Nicole Savvides 547, the Jedi Bowmen's top score.

Imperial will be pleased to note that they have gone top of the table on points difference by over 40, especially after the disappointment of losing out to Surrey on the SEAL title in similar fashion last season. Surrey however were the only SEAL team to field a full novice contingent and sit top of the novice table.

In a piece of good news, London have asked to compete in SEAL after all. Reports of their death (my reports - sorry about that) were grossly exaggerated. League organiser Gavin Simmons is currently fitting them into the league's timetable and news on that will appear here too. Just a quick reminder as well, if you want to enter the Brunel Open, get on with it. The official closing date is Friday 19th and late entries are two pounds extra.


Team effort grabs Warwick win [16/Nov/04]

Warwick have won the opening BUTTS leg with 2178, eighteen points clear of defending champions Cambridge. Tom Kemp with 568 top scored for the BUTC bronze medallists with Jon Shaw, Charles Manville and Will Pollitt making up the rest of the team. Cambridge began the defence of their title with a second place - Ian Caulfield and Matt Johnson scoring around the 550 mark. Birmingham claimed novice team victory and a good day for Warick was made better as they took second novice team.

Individually, there was a spectacular 592 from Birmingham's Naomi Folkard, driving them up to third place - their highest finish in a leg for nearly two years. Loughborough's newest star Danny Clifford recorded a 578 to help his side over 2100. There were clear winners too in the novice division. Loughborough's Alex Lyne wrapped up the gents with 495 despite missing and Oxford's Leonora Moore 479 was enough for a comfortable win in ladies novice category.

Elsewhere Edinburgh won comfortably at home to Strathclyde and Aberdeen, the Glasgow side scraping second place in the match by two points. Jenny Jeppsson with 563 and Stuart Horswell with 551 led Edinburgh home, Edinburgh novice Michael Clark scoring an impressive 509. Bradford hosted the opening NEUAL match of the season, where defending champions York ran out winners ahead of their hosts. Lancaster finished second in the senior league and first in the novice league last season. However third places in both leave them struggling to repeat these performances. Details of Surrey v Brunel and Sussex v Imperial were not yet available.


E is for E-League [27/Oct/04]

The Non-BUSA E-League is back for season 2004/2005 and as before it is administered by Andy Somers (formerly Cambridge). Any university in the UK (including those not affiliated to BUSA) can enter any number of archers into this competition. Full details of the mechanics of this competition are available from the information supplied by Andy Somers on the E-Leagues page.

This competition pits all levels of archers together and provides a good indication of everyone's strengths as the leagues extend to cover B, C, D and beyond teams, as well as multiple novice teams. Compounds, barebows and longbows are all recognised and there is always the calculated inter Regional and Home Nations teams. The first "month" actually includes any scores recorded in either September or October. Results should be in to Andy Somers by Friday 5th November to get those crucial league points on the board. Results will be available on the UKSAA site throughout the season.


BUTC bid documents published [18/Oct/04]

Is your university interested in hosting BUTC? Documents which explain exactly how and what you need to put the thing into practice are now available from the BUTC section of the site, then 2005 Info or Hosting Info. The 2003 and 2004 tournaments, in Edinburgh and York were highlights of the season. Even if you hadn't thought about it before, think about it now. Don't forget to discuss it thoroughly with your club though - you will need their help.

Please feel free to download anything you need from the site. Bids must be submitted to the UKSAA mailbox - studentarchery@@yahoo.co.uk - by Wednesday 1st December to be considered. A small committee (Ian McGibbon, Dave Spinner, Tim Mundon, Andrew Phillips and myself) will sift through the entries and award the tournament well before Christmas.


I'm from the Isle of Man [14/Oct/04]

As well as being the subject of the Fast Show's most mystifying sketch, the Isle of Man hosts an annual Festival of Sport. The 2005 event will be the 21st time the event has taken place. The Festival lasts from the 31st March to the 5th April 2005, with archery competition taking place on the Saturday and Sunday (2nd and 3rd April). The rounds shot are a Portsmouth and FITA 18 on Saturday followed by a Worcester and a Bray 1 on the Sunday. Loughborough won last year's event, with Bradford second and Birmingham third.

Ian Pilkington (Loughborough) is the person to ask if you have any further questions. He adds:

Just thought I would increase everyones awareness of this competition. As far as I'm concerned it is, by far and away the best competition of the year. Just ask anyone from Loughborough, Birmingham or Bradford who has been. All details of the event can be found at www.isleofmanfestival.com or you can email me at pilko100@hotmail.com for any questions that can't be answered on the website (or you can't find on the website.


Cambridge host BUSA Outdoors [11/Oct/04]

As on the BUSA site, on 18th June 2005 we can look forward to the light blues of Cambridge hosting BUSA Outdoors 2005, combined with the assistance of those in the trademark ACME black. Cambridge most recently hosted BUSA Outdoors in 2001, and that tournament became one of the defining tournaments of recent years.

It was the first BUSA Outdoors to be held outside the city of the host university (Cambridge) and not only that, but it was held at the magnificent venue of Lilleshall NSC. This proved such a success that it has never gone back since with Imperial, Edinburgh and ULU all hosting at the Shropshire site. The following season the SWWU league began - the first new piece in the regional league jigsaw since BUTTS over five years previously. It marked the first steps of ACME, leaderboards and all, a collection of talents (fools?) who have been very much involved ever since. It came only a few months into the UKSAA's history and fired my enthusiasm for the project hugely.

What about the bows and arrows themselves? On a hot, sunny and calm day, 148 competitors from 37 institutions battled it out - smashing the previous attendance records. Atle Wold inspired Edinburgh to the team title, with Derek Burroughs (Heriot-Watt) and Isla Lillie (Newcastle) the individual winners. Just about every major record associated with the tournament fell, apart from senior Ladies recurve, where Isla fell two points short of her very own record. The venue attained legendary status when the hay bales and tractor became involved, but like the 1960s, if you can remember, you weren't really there.


Season IV - A New Hope [05/Oct/04]

Now it is October and as the memory and the excitement of Athens fades, we begin the new season - the fourth full season for the UKSAA. I'd always intended the UKSAA to be a long term project, but I was never sure if the whole idea would take off or not. Hopefully I have been able to keep track of the explosion of archery that has coincided with my e-scribblings.

The calendar for this season is taking shape, with dates for SUSF, NEUAL, SEAL and BUSA all confirmed. BUSA Indoors will be on 5th March, NOT 19th February as previously advertised. The first match scheduled is Surrey v Brunel on 6th November. Surrey will be keen to get off to a winning start in defence of the title they won last season in their last match (also against Brunel). Rivals Imperial must wait a further week before their first match, away to Sussex. SEAL this season is without London ULU, who have disappeared as all their members have left. Having picked up silver at BUSA Outdoors only four months ago, it goes to show how fragile a university archery club can be.

On a happier note, Sheffield have joined NEUAL for this season boosting the league back up to seven teams. They open with a trip to Bradford to face the hosts and Leeds on 4th December [corr.]. The first NEUAL match of the season however is at Bradford on 13th November, where the hosts will take on last season's NEUAL 1-2, York and Lancaster. This "roses" match so early in the season will have a massive impact on the final NEUAL table. Further north, SUSF begins, also on 13th November with defending champions Edinburgh at home to Aberdeen and Strathclyde.

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