BUCS Outdoors 2012 Review

The 2012 BUCS Outdoor Championships were won by Edinburgh who coped best with some inhospitable conditions at Lilleshall. Edinburgh scored 4323 to win, with a team of Erik Rowbotham (1142), Margaux Mesle (1105), Lizzie Bell (1043) and Migle Petruskeviciute (1033). Edinburgh enjoyed a winning margin of no less than 435 points. Second, third and fourth were more tightly contested with Matt Cranham (1085), Jorge Lindley (1022), Benjamin Pooley (912) and Rachael Hutchison (869) steering Warwick to second place with 3888. Southampton took third place on 3834 with Samuel Bird (1078), Charlotte Whitlock (976), Theo Chen-Sverre (898) and Bradley Keogh (882), Oxford just missing out on 3817.

There were 182 starters, with only 9 retirements.

Lilleshall was wet and very windy all day long - indeed conditions were so poor that the judges were close to suspending or even cancelling the shoot at several moments, particulatly during the morning session. Edinburgh's winning total is a full 300 points lower than any previous winning total since the format was brought in in 2007 - and it's only the second time that scores under 4000 have won team medals. For Edinburgh such a commanding win was a very positive way to end the university season. Warwick pick up their fourth senior team silvers at Lilleshall in five years. Edinburgh, Warwick, Southampton, Oxford is an exact repeat of the top four from this event in 2009.

Matthew Langton top scored for fourth placed Oxford on 1072 out of the total of 3817. The gap from fourth to fifth placed team was another big one at just over 250 points, but leading the chasing pack were Nottingham Trent who stormed in to fifth place with 1084 from Ellie Dyson and 991 from Rebecca Lantsbery. Trent's previous best placing at BUCS Outdoors was 14th last year. NEUAL Outdoor champions Lancaster were sixth on 3375, ahead of Napier who bagged seventh spot with 3310, including 1050 from Piotr Wojtczuk. Napier's previous best at BUCS Outdoors was 17th and indeed they are the first SUS side apart from Edinburgh to finish in the top 8 at BUCS Outdoors for 10 years. Tom Castle shot 1091 to guarantee Knights Archers (i.e. Reading) the last BUCS point in eighth place, ahead of SEAL rivals London who finished on 3256, with Loughborough completing the top ten. A total of 25 universities had recurves present, although there were only 12 complete four person teams, one less than last year.

Leading the incomplete teams home in 13th place were Nottingham, who would have needed a fourth score of 807 to claim silver medals. Birmingham were unfortunate to have leading archer Andy Iles forced to retire following a limb delamination. Iles was in sixth place on 236 after 90m and would have needed 805 for Birmingham to claim a BUCS point to add to the BUTTS Outdoor title.

The novice team category was very closely fought but it was Nottingham who were eventually victorious on 2951, with a winning margin of 25 points ahead of Edinburgh. Nottingham's winning trio were Oliver Jackson (1059), Jade Van Parijs (987) and Oliver Yates (905), whilst for Edinburgh Stephanie Clason (1054), Rebecca Carr (976) and Benjamin Arenas (896) took silver. Cambridge were alone in third on 2850 with a team of Mariya Karpiyevich (1067), Matthew Bigwood (906) and Joe Glover (877). Behind the medal winners were Warwick, Birmingham and Napier. Warwick were fourth on 2785 with a pair of 940s from James Edmonson and Enrik Nako. Birmingham notched 2702, with Napier on 2639, top scorers Eloise Cornish (981) and Kat McManus (998) respectively. 22 universities fielded novices with 13 complete novice teams, both figures encouragingly up from last year's - 16 and 10.

Despite the poor conditions, four gents were in the 250s after 90m, but it was George Harding (Nottingham) who accelerated away from the field, beating everyone else in the field by 35 at 70m and by 25 at 50m. In the end, Harding's winning total was 1223, enough for his fourth BUCS Outdoor title, sixth BUCS title overall. The winning margin of 81 points is the widest ever at this event. Erik Rowbotham (Edinburgh) was the only man within 100 points on 1142. Rory Campbell (Sheffield) claimed third place on 1116, although he had been 15 points down on fourth placed Alex Hickson (Bath) at the lunch break. A 25 point swing at 50m was enough for Campbell to take bronze, whilst Hickson had to settle for a BUCS point. Tom Castle (Reading) was fifth on 1091, with Matthew Cranham (Warwick) sixth on 1085. Samuel Bird (Southampton) and Matthew Langton (Oxford) were next on 1078 and 1072, whilst Tom Cram (Loughborough) and Piotr Wojtczuk (Napier) rounded off the top 10 on 1058 and 1050.

Ladies recurve proved an altogther closer affair than the gents. Ellie Dyson (Nottingham Trent) took a 21 point lead after the first distance. Closest rivals Margaux Mesle (Edinburgh) and Zoe Hawken) reduced this figure to 8 at lunch, Hawken top scoring at 60m. However as the short metric began, Mesle powered past both other women, going from 10 behind in third, to leading by 13, streching her lead at 30m to score 1105, with Dyson third on 1084 and Hawken claiming Birmingham's first individual BUCS Outdoor medal since 1996.

One statistic which eloquently highlights just how poor the conditions were: more senior recurves broke 1100 in 2011 (15 gents, 7 ladies) than broke 1000 in 2012 (14 gents, 5 ladies).

The gent novice category was won by Oliver Jackson (Nottingham) who dominated the day with a score of 1059 and a winning margin in three digits. The other two medals were won by James Edmonson and Enrik Nako (both Warwick), Edmonson coming from behind to pip his team mate 947 to 945. Louis Richardson (Loughborough) was fourth on 928 with the best 30m score. Allan West (Birmingham), Matthew Bigwood (Cambridge), Oliver Yates (Nottingham) were all sandwiched together, scoring just over 900 points each, Benjamin Arenas (Edinburgh) in eighth, just under 900. Remarkably BUTTS produced nine of the top ten novice gent archers.

Novice ladies recurve was a considerably closer run affair than the gents. By lunchtime, Mariya Karpiyevich (Cambridge) and Stephanie Clason (Edinburgh) were nearly 50 clear of Kat McManus (Napier) who led the chasing group. Karpiyevich saw Clason trim her lead from 14 down to 6, but in the final distance fought back to take gold with 1067 against 1054. McManus finished two short of 1000 winning bronze, whilst Jade Van Parijs (Nottingham) had the top score at 30m and finished fourth on 981, with Eloise Cornish (Birmingham) fifth on 981, Rebecca Carr (Edinburgh) sixth on 976 and Eleonore Cossade (Oxford) on 947 completed the leading group.

Alex Bridgman (UWIC) won gents compound with 1274, clear of Chris Tombe (Birmingham) on 1241 in second. Third and fourth were David Leach (Swansea) on 1194 and Gareth Beeby (Sheffield) on 1166. Ladies compound division was won by Lucy O'Sullivan (Nottingham Trent) on 1288, 17 ahead of Naomi Jones (Edinburgh). Mary Perrott (Portsmouth) was third on 1211, whilst Hope Greenwood (Edinburgh) took fourth on 1178. There were 15 senior compounds and 3 novice compounds, all gents, one of whom retired. The two who remained served up an intriguing battle. Callum McMeekin (Edinburgh) managed to get the better of Jason Yiu (Swansea) 1181 to 1161, most of the damage done at the longest distance. McMeekin's score got him the BUCS/All Unis beating the mark set last year of 1170.

Senior barebow winners were Daniel Paterson and Amyce Aurora-Smith (both Bath). Paterson won the gents division with 580, with Alex Gilliland (Edinburgh) and Jacob Kerr (Warwick) not far behind on 550 and 537. Andy Buchan (Loughborough) got the last BUCS point. Aurora-Smith's margin of victory was much more comfortable as she scored 824 as against 639 from Jos Sarsby (Birmingham) in second and 616 from Annie White (Oxford) in third. Morag Douglas (Aberdeen) claimed a BUCS point in fourth. There were 13 experienced barebows with 11 novices. Ste Jones and Anna Lawrence (both Swansea) were the winners here on 701 and 576. Yegor Komissarov (London) was second novice gent barebow on 603, with Joe Blatch (Sheffield) third on 574.

There were only 4 longbows over the whole day, with Steven Johnson (Birmingham) top scorer on 300 and James Barnaby (Queen Mary) the only novice on 192.

That there was even one BUCS/All Unis record actually broken on the day (GCN) was remarkable. Thanks as always go out to the judging team and organisers, once again marshalled by the AFS crew. The shoot finished at 7pm - a pretty reasonable result in the conditions.

The tents are packed away and presumably everyone has mostly dried off, so thoughts can stray to next year. The day was organised without a specific host institution, but this is far from an ideal scenario and potential host universities are strongly encouraged to apply to remotely host the 2013 BUCS events. AFS fully expect to be available to help - you wouldn't simply be cast adrift. Remember you can always bug people from the other clubs in your league to help out, so why not? If you're interested in BUTC, then contact UKSAA.

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