BUTC 2011 Review

Results [540kb]

Nottingham A (George Harding, Chris Fry and Laura Bell) beat surprise package Birmingham A (Jack Bryant, Steven Johnson and Jeffrey Puckering) 17-6 in a final that they were always in control of, but only ran away with towards the end. Edinburgh A (Erik Rowbotham, Migle Petruskeviciute and Jenny Jeppsson) beat Southampton (Sam Bird, Brad Keogh and Richard Whiter) in a high quality bronze medal match.

No less than 28 clubs had entered BUTC by the closing date, but with four withdrawals (including one, less than 12 hours before kick off) this number was reduced to 24. The first half of the ranking round was very closely contested, but gradually Edinburgh A and Nottingham A broke clear, with Warwick A ahead of the pack but unable to close on the top two. A strong finish from Edinburgh A left them in first place with 825, a dozen clear of Nottingham A on 813 and a further dozen ahead of Warwick on 801. Edinburgh A's total broke their own tournament record (set in 2006) by three points. Edinburgh's good performance in the Bray I continued with their B side fourth on 789. Only ten points - one arrow value - separated fifth place from thirteenth place in final standings. Loughborough were top of this pack of clubs on 778, with Essex one point behind. Reading and Oxford both got 774, Reading claiming seventh spot 26 golds to 21. Keele and Sheffield both got 774, but Sheffield's total included only 89 hits. Southampton were immediately outside the top ten on 772. Imperial B outqualified their own A team, qualifying in 12th with 768, a score matched by Nottingham B, but with 10 golds as against 21. The top half of the ranking round was completed by another trio of closely matched sides. Lancaster, on 762, were one point ahead of Cambridge who were themselves one point clear of Imperial A.

In the individual standings Erik Rowbotham (Edinburgh A) finished top on 286, one point short of the tournament record, but one ahead of Michael Judd (Essex). George Harding (Nottingham A) was third on 283. The ladies recurve top three were well clear, with Lucy Bonner (York) first on 275. Migle Petruskeviciute (Edinburgh A) was just behind on 273, with Heather Reynolds (Cambridge) a point further back. Top novice was Arthur Coveney (Loughborough) on 231.

The format of the knock-out matches was same as it has been since 2007, with the teams of three each shooting four ends of two arrows each at 60mm discs.

As ever, the first round was shot in two halves, with four clubs (East Anglia, Northumbria, Strathclyde and Sunderland) taking part in their first ever BUTC matches. Co-hosts Napier's two sides faced precisely the same matches as they did in 2008. Napier A slid to a 4-11 defeat to Oxford whilst Edinburgh A were always in control against Napier B and eased to a 15-4 victory. Edinburgh B, however were far less convincing in a 7-2 win over Northumbria. For the first time, no Imperial side made the last 16 (despite both having qualified inside it). Imperial B lost 8-7 to Birmingham A (qual. 21st) and Imperial A were beaten 7-2 by Aberdeen (qual. 17th), who made a winning return to BUTC after a gap of eight years. St Andrews A's run of giant killing came to an end as they were drummed out 8-1 by Keele. In the Round of 32, only six teams shot more than the 10 scored by York (qual. 20th). Unfortunately for the 2004 champions, one of those six was their opponents Nottingham B with 13. 2010 bronze medallists Loughborough (qual. 5th) were up against Sunderland who included two novices. Remarkably the match went in to the final end tied, before Loughborough eventually eked out a 6-3 win.

Nottingham A (qual. 2nd) were actually behind against Liverpool B after the first pass, but eventually got in to the match, winning 8-3. Liverpool A also bowed out with a 11-6 defeat to Sheffield, who finally broke their BUTC KO duck with a win against their NEUAL rivals. Warwick could have set up an A v B clash in the round of 16, but Warwick B went down 10-7 to Lancaster. Warwick A had no trouble seeing off St Andrews B 13-1. St Andrews B had only taken up the 32nd slot after a withdrawal made less than 12 hours to go. Local rivals Essex (qual. 6th) and East Anglia were drawn against each other and there was surprisingly little to separate them until the very end of their match, Essex going through 6-3. Seventh seeds Reading however became the highest seeded casualties of the round as they lost a thriller against Durham (qual. 26th) 8-7. Last year, on their debut, Reading qualified only just inside the top half and enjoyed a fairytale run to the semi finals. This year, as a top quarter side they were knocked straight out. Birmingham B (qual. 18th) convincingly beat Cambridge 9-4 whilst Southampton had enough in the second half of their match to see off the threat from Strathclyde 12 discs to 6.

In the round of 16, Birmingham A produced another upset to knock out 5th seeds and fellow BUTTS club Loughborough. Running the clock right down on several occasions, Birmingham A won 11-10 to go through to the quarter-finals for the first time. Birmingham B got 10, but their opponents Nottingham A, unconvincing in the previous round, blasted in 18 hits to equal the team KO match record. Both Edinburgh sides went through comfortably, but without hitting the heights. Edinburgh A beat Aberdeen 11-4 whilst Edinburgh B knocked out Nottingham B 9-5. Oxford beat Keele 11 discs 7, racing in to an early lead and then holding on. Southampton survived a huge comback to pip Essex. Southampton had been 9-5 up with an end to go but ended up scraping through 10-9. Warwick were 10-6 winners over Lancaster, having been level at half way. NEUAL did have a guaranteed presence in the quarter finals though, as Sheffield, followed up their first BUTC KO win with their second, a 9-6 win over Durham, the lowest ranked side to make the second round.

Having shot 18 to match the BUTC KO team record in the round of 16, Nottingham claimed the record outright with an astonishing 19 hits in quarter-final, including a perfect pass. The onslaught was too much for Sheffield who notched 9 in response. In the neighbouring match Southampton took on Warwick in an astonishing match that saw the discs keep on tumbling. The match aggregate record of 31 (held jointly by the 2008, 2009 and 2010 finals) was broken with 32 as Southampton won 17-15. Warwick are the only club ever to lose having scored 15 and have now done it twice, adding this quarter final to the 2009 final. Southampton made the last four for the first time. The other quarter finals were altogether cagier affairs. Edinburgh A won again without really convincing, Oxford on the wrong end of 12-9. Edinburgh B were fourth seeds and could have set up an A v B semi, but by despite the ranking disparity, Birmingham A had more hits in the previous two rounds. Birmingham A did go behind in the early stage of the match but turned it around to secure a memorable 10-8 victory to turn a maiden quarter final into a maiden semi final and become the lowest ranked ever side to make the last four.

Birmingham A's reward for knocking out Edinburgh B, was Edinburgh A and the match followed a very similar pattern, with Edinburgh A taking an early lead. Crucially Birmingham A did not let their heads go down and despite a few close brushes with the timer, fought back to level after three passes. Birmingham A nicked the last end and the five time champions failed to make the final for only the second time. The early stages of Nottingham A against Southampton were dogged by scoring and judging issues, with scores having to be adjusted after arrows had been pulled in both of the first two relatively closely fought ends. Southampton were 6-5 up at half way, but ran out of steam in the second half of the match with only 1 hit against Nottingham A's 9, final score 14-7.

In the third place play off Edinburgh A took on Southampton. This match was effectively decided in the second pass which Edinburgh A won with a perfect 6 discs to 1. Although Southampton did fight back in the last two passes, Edinburgh A had already done the damage, totalling 18 hits to secure bronze, Southampton on 13. For Southampton, this first trip to the semi-finals ended in disappointment, but they had a tough draw, playing Warwick, Nottingham and Edinburgh in their last three matches. Edinburgh A had to be content with bronze medals but received plenty of support from a home crowd.

Finalists Nottingham A and Birmingham A qualified 19 places and 88 points apart. Could Birmingham A cause a fifth consecutive upset? Or would record beating Nottingham A become the first English club to win BUTC for a second time. Nottingham got off to a good start in the final, taking the first end 4-2. Birmingham tried to fight back, but it was Nottingham who extended the lead to 7-3. After the third end, Nottingham were six clear and Birmingham would have needed an unlikely 6-0 in the last pass to force a shoot off. Birmingham did briefly threaten, but Nottingham had too much quality and wrapped up the match 16-7. For Nottingham, there was much to celebrate, with a second BUTC title in three years. Birmingham were unlikely finalists, qualifying in 21st position, but BUTC tends to throw up a few surprises - and if you shoot well at the right time, then anything is possble. Birmingham claim their first national student medals for 15 years following silver at BUSA Outdoors 1996.

Thanks to all who assisted with putting on BUTC 2011, including all the sponsors, the host clubs of Napier and Edinburgh, the judges, commentators and organising team who put together the event that produced so many twists and turns in this, its ninth year.

So as BUTC 2011 takes its place in the record books, immediate attention turns to BUCS Indoor Champs which will take place in Cardiff on Sat 5th Mar, but for BUTC the journey towards 2012 starts now. BUTC is a prestigious, complex event. Is your club up to the challenge, or do you simply fancy the shortest possible trip home afterwards? Any clubs who think they may be interested should contact UKSAA straight away.


Quarter Finals

  • Edinburgh A (1) beat Oxford (8)
  • Birmingham A (21) beat Edinburgh B (4)
  • Southampton (11) beat Warwick A (3)
  • Nottingham A (2) beat Sheffield (10)

Semi Finals

  • Birmingham A beat Edinburgh A
  • Nottingham A beat Southampton

Third/Fourth place play-off

  • Edinburgh A beat Southampton

Final

  • Nottingham A beat Birmingham A