Edinburgh A (Emma Downie, Andy Ward, Jenny Jeppsson) won BUTC 2007 by defeating Cambridge A (Rob Bacon, Robert Fryers, Ric Whalley) in a tight final 9-8. The match took a while to get going, but exploded in spectacular style in the last pass. Warwick A (Chris Butler, Richard Proctor, Thom Hutchins) beat debutants Keele A (Andy O'Connor, Matt Walker, Dave Holmshaw) 12-7 in the bronze medal match as 2006's 1-2-3 became 2007's vintage as well.
The qualifying round was dominated by Edinburgh A and Warwick A who hit the front immediately and entrenched themselves there, the gap back to third place growing to nearly 30 points by the end of the Bray I. Edinburgh A's total of 817 was only 5 points short of the record the same trio set last year. Warwick A were in touch but always a little behind and finished on 808. Imperial A were third for most of the qualifying round but slipped near the end to give Cambridge A third place on 779, the Londoners on 775 and Keele A the highest ranked side with a miss on 768. Durham A's 763 was enough for sixth, and after both having scored 756 Edinburgh B beat York A 19 golds to 17. Nottingham A and Cambridge B rounded off the top 10 with 750 and 740 respectively. Birmingham B qualified 11th on 734 whilst Birmingham A qualified 16th on 682 - Toucan team selection gone awry. In between the Brummies, Surrey, who made the day's longest journey, were 12th, just a point behind Birmingham B, Warwick B 13th on 723, Oxford A were 14th on 710 and Keele B were 15th and the last side to clear 700 with 705.
Individually there were three gents out on their own in front, but it was Rob Bacon (Cambridge A) with 277 who stayed a nose in front of Andy Ward (Edinburgh A) 276, 13 golds and Chris Butler (Warwick A) 276, 12 golds, the chasing pack on 270. Emma Downie (Edinburgh A) blew away the ladies field with 280, 19 points clear of second Jenny Jeppsson and an whole end (30 points) in front third placed Georgina Porter (York A). Top scoring novices were Dave Williams (Keele B) 230 [corr.] and Ruth Bedder (Durham A) 247.
The format of the knock-out matches was changed this year in line with FITA regulations. The teams of three each shot four ends of two arrows making the matches out of 24 instead of 27. Also gone were the 70mm discs of 2006, exchanged for the tougher 60mm discs last used in 2005.
The top two seeds had particularly easy assignments in round 1. Edinburgh A took on Dundee who were a DNS scoring a mighty but unopposed 18 hits. Warwick A took on St Andrews who only fielded two archers - in five years this is the very first time an incomplete team has competed - and perhaps predictably the Fife side suffered a 12-1 thrashing. Both Edinburgh B and Warwick B also made it through, Edinburgh B got in double figures beating Liverpool B 10-3, whilst Warwick B were not far behind in accounting for Lancaster A 9-3. There was double success for Birmingham as their A side squeezed past Durham B 6-5 to earn a tie against Edinburgh A and their B team (who outqualified their A team by a full 50 points) beat for local side Napier A 5-2. Napier's B (qual 28th) side however, nearly pulled off a staggering upset against Keele A (qual 5th) as they were within one disc after three passes, Keele A eventually stumbling through 7-5. Keele B also made it through but only after a shoot off against Leeds A, 1-0 in the shoot off after the match ended 3-3. Both Cambridge sides made it through Cambridge A beating a spirited Lancaster A 10-5 and Cambridge B defeating Leeds B 8-3. Surrey beat Imperial B 9-3, whilst Imperial A ended Welsh interest by getting the better of Swansea, SWWU's only representatives, 7-2. 2004 champions York A scored 13 against Sheffield B's 5. Sheffield A lost too in an all-NEUAL affair to Durham A 9-3. In the round's remaining fixtures Nottingham A beat Liverpool A 6-2, whilst 14th seeds Oxford A crashed out 6-4 to York B.
Into the second round and there was double disappointment for York as their B team lost 14-6 to the impressive Cambridge A whilst York A lost 9-7 to Nottingham A, the winners to face Edinburgh A who steam-rollered Birmingham A 18-6, quickly silencing the Brummie support despite a promising opening. Birmingham B too were knocked out 10-6 by Durham A. Warwick A fired in an impressive 15 hits to dislodge Keele B with 7. Keele A beat Surrey 9 discs to 5. Imperial A looked more assured in beating Warwick B 11-7 and Cambridge B produced an upset when they ousted Edinburgh's B team 11-8, thus becoming the only B team in the quarter finals.
In the end all four quarter-finals were won decisively. Cambridge B fresh from their victory could not repeat the feat against the formidable Warwick A as the second seeds cruised through 14-8. Cambridge's A team were locked at 4-4 with Durham A at the half way stage in their match, but accelerated away in the second half to win 12-8. Edinburgh A were made to work but were in the end comfortable winners over Nottingham A 13-8. Nottingham had an hit disallowed for shooting fractionally after the final end whistle - fortunately this did not affect the match outcome. Nottingham's previous best performance was also a QF in 2004. Perhaps the most intriguing QF was 4th v 5th, Imperial A v Keele A. Keele secured a 3-1 lead after the first pass and held this 2 disc lead until the final pass. Just when the new SEAL champions need a last effort, it was Keele who notched another 3-1 win to win the match 10-6 and make the semi-finals on their BUTC debut.
The first semi pitched BUTTS title rivals Warwick A and Cambridge A against one another in a repeat one of last year's semis. Warwick were favourites for the match having outqualified Cambridge by 29 points and out-scoring in each round to date, but the two teams remained locked together after each pass 2-2, 5-5, 6-6 and finally 10-10, to force a one arrow per archer shoot off. Cambridge grew in confidence with each end, and won the shoot off 2-1 to leave Warwick contemplating a third semi-final defeat in four years, the second in a row to Cambridge. In the second semi-final could Keele A emulate Exeter (absent this year) from 2005 when the then SWWU champions went on to win the title at the first attempt? If so they would need to overcome Edinburgh A, the hosts, defending champions and top qualifiers. Keele faltered and Edinburgh chipped away to leave Keele 10-4 down and needing a 6-0 whitewash in the final pass to force a shoot off. They began in fine style but it was the hosts who forced a 12-7 win.
The bronze medal match saw Warwick A win the opening three passes by one hit to go 9-6 up. Once again Keele had too much to do and Warwick won the match 12-9, adding bronze medals in 2007 to the bronzes they won in 2004 and 2006 giving them a 3-0 record in this match. Keele A couldn't quite match Exeter A's performance in 2005 but the fifth seeds announced their presence on the BUTC stage and can reflect on a very successful day.
This left Edinurgh A v Cambridge A in the final in a repeat of last year's top match. Having ousted Warwick A in the semis Cambridge A were also the underdogs in this match as both sides opened with 2 hits in the first pass. In the second and third pass, both sides struggled despite a vocal crowd and the match limped to 4-4 after 18 arrows. As the number of arrows left fell away, inspriation finally struck and it was Cambridge who landed the first blow with 2 hits from 3, noticeably enlivening the crowd. Edinburgh responded at last, with a perfect 3 from 3 at the atmosphere grew in intensity. Cambridge notched another 2 hits leaving Edinburgh needing 1 from 3 to force a shoot off or 2 to win. Edinburgh levelled the scores with one arrow to spare and a final hit gave them the championship with the very last shot of the day.
The usual array of thanks - to Edinburgh and Greg Schuner's team of scorers and dogsbodies, to ACME and their crew, the Judges (hello), the commentators, Tim Mundon and Werner Beiter. This was the fifth running of BUTC and the first time it has revisited one of its former venues. The post-event party was, as usual, well attended, but the poor old DJ was forced to battle for his audience's attention with a lunar eclipse as many braved the chilly Edinburgh night, particularly between 2244 and 2358 to watch the cosmic dance outside, as opposed to the comic dancing inside.
As the planets aligned, so the fifth BUTC drew to a close. Did you have a good time? Does your club want the prestige (and any profits) to say nothing of reduced travel and accommodation costs from hosting the event? Do you simply want your B team top of the list for entries? Can you guarantee a celestial event? If you want to host BUTC 2008, then send an email to the UKSAA mailbox today.
Quarter Finals
Semi Finals
Third/Fourth place play-off
Final
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