BUTC

BUTC 2004 Review

York A (Andrew Ash, Tom Duncan and James Wickens) won the second British University Team Championships, beating Edinburgh A (Tim Mundon, Matt Nowicki and David Lange) in a thrilling final. Warwick A (Tom Kemp, Charles Manvilleand Jon Shaw) were third, pipping Edinburgh B in a similarly exciting bronze medal play-off. In all BUTC served up some genuinely exciting archery, more than making up in drama what it lost from a lower turnout than last year.

The qualification round lead seemed to change hands every half-dozen arrows. Gradually however, York A asserted a degree of control over Edinburgh B, Warwick and Loughborough, all of whom threatened, before right at the death, Edinburgh A stole in with a one point lead over York A 789 to 788. Edinburgh B were third fifteen points adrift, with surprise packages Warwick A fourth another nine points down on 762. Imperial A led the chasing pack in fifth on 739, but were closely pursued by Liverpool A on 738 and Loughborough on 736. Durham A rounded off the top eight on 711. With only 20 teams competing, the top 12 were all assured of first round byes and Bradford A, Imperial B, Birmingham A and Nottingham A (positions 9 to 12 in qualifying all avoided the Round 1.

Individually Tim Mundon (Edinburgh A) broke the record for Gents qualifying BUTC with 282. Andrew Ash (York A) was second with 279, Martin Russell (Edinburgh B) third with 278. Tom Kemp (Warwick A) was fourth with 277 and the top four gents mirrored exactly the position of the top four teams. In a small ladies field Eloise Fowler (Imperial B) was first with 236. Cat Lamin (Birmingham A) was second on 223 ahead of Catherine Lowden (Durham B) on 218. Leading novices were Stuart Horswell (Edinburgh B) on 244 and Serena Battista (Leeds) on 205, both of whom narrowly missed out on records.

Round 1 itself had only four matches, including Bradford v Durham part 1, in which Bradford’s second string overcame their Durham counterparts. Birmingham B upset the higher ranked Nottingham B beating them 188-178. The biggest upset involving a Nottingham side was still to come. York B came through round 1 safely against Leeds whilst Warwick B overcame Liverpool B to face Edinburgh B.

In round 2, Imperial A, the fifth seeds and one of the pre-tournament favourites were dumped out of the competition (or “slapped upside their heads”) 209-207 to Nottingham A, ranked seven places (and 62 points) behind them. Imperial A suffered a miss and a one and were made to pay dearly for these mistakes. Nottingham’s reward was a quarter-final against form side Warwick A who ended hosts York’s B team hopes with a solid performance 219-199. Imperial B also fell to the increasingly impressive Liverpool A 229-205, ending the Jedi bowmen’s interest before the last 8. There was also double disappointment for Bradford and Birmingham in round 2. Birmingham A and B could have set up a quarter final meeting, but both lost, Birmingham B to York A and Birmingham A to Loughborough. Both Edinburgh sides progressed easily, Edinburgh A knocking out Bradford B and Edinburgh B, posting the competition's highest score so far with 238, brushed past Warwick B. Durham A gained revenge on behalf of their B team by beating Bradford A.

In the quarter finals nerves got the better of Durham A who suffered a collapse against Edinburgh A, themselves scoring 239, the highest of the competition thus far. Durham had fired 10 golds in their last 16 victory over Bradford A. In this match that figure dropped to 3. The “Edinburgh effect” also got a (lighter) grip of Liverpool A who slipped to an 18 point defeat against Edinburgh B with a few early loose shots. Warwick A took full advantage of Imperial A’s slip up against Nottingham A beating their fellow Midlanders 221-213 in the closest of the quarter-finals. York A beat Loughborough A in the highest scoring quarter-final. Loughborough A’s 226 was twelve points short of the hosts, who earned themselves a fascinating semi-final against Edinburgh B, whom they out-qualified.

The hall was cleared to leave only two bosses and the first semi-final up was Edinburgh A against Warwick A who had already gone past their target of the quarter finals. Some disciplined shooting by Edinburgh A saw them score 242, again the highest total to date in the competition and it was enough to hold off the spirited Warwick A challenge. The second semi-final got off to a dramatic start when Edinburgh B had an equipment failure and did not shoot two arrows, immediately going 25 points down. With only 18 arrows to catch up, with one archer using a different bow, Edinburgh B continued to falter and although York A faltered a little too, the pressure was off and they ultimately increased their lead, winning 232-195.

The bronze medal match looked like it was over after Warwick A missed early against Edinburgh B, but they emerged only two points down with the final pass to go. Having led the qualifying at one point, Warwick A produced one last effort and overtook the rattled Edinburgh B – a result which remained in doubt until the arrows had been finally added up, final score 226-223, much to the loud approval of Warwick A’s (by now) large support. These bronze medals were the result of a tremendous effort from Warwick A and it was clear how much the results meant to the team and club.

BUTC 2004 final was the hosts against the defending champions - the top two qualifiers. Only 12 of the 54 arrows shot in the final were outside the yellow as York A and Edinburgh A shot the highest two scores of the day in the last match. York A led after the first pass 85 to 82, but a six in the second pass allowed Edinburgh A to retake the lead 164 to 162. In the last pass a four from Edinburgh A inamongst the tens gave York A the advantage and they shot brilliantly under the intense pressure to win by 246-243, to much applause. Both teams, and the match as a whole were shot in a great spirit and were a wonderful advert for student archery.

This is one of the most exciting tournaments I can remember, from Nottingham A’s early besting of Imperial A, the successes of Liverpool A reaching the quarter finals on their first appearance, the people’s champions Warwick A (will they have stopped smiling by now?), the dramatic second semi-final or the nail-biting medal matches, the teams that didn’t attend fairly missed a treat. Thanks to everyone who helped run the thing including a depleted ACME, Sai “Keith” Khunpha, Claire Hitchen, Vickie Hinchcliffe, Alan Stiles, all at York Uni AC, Tim Mundon’s database and of course the omnipresent Michael Ward. As I understand it, York are not bidding to host BUSA Outdoors (that is if Michael wants to live). Thank you also to the commentary team Dave Sewell and Chris Burnett, who added so much to the flavour of the event. There was a lot of genuine research which went into the commentary, but perhaps there was a key decision made at lunchtime which gave us moments such as “Dave” (sung to the tune Shaft) and the total destruction of Bohemian Rhapsody. Who will be able to take the phrase “touch of fruit” seriously, ever again?

Quarter Finals