BUTC 2015 Review

Tournament Results [607kb]

Warwick A (Tom Hall, Luke Rieman, Jorge Lindley) won BUTC with a 13-9 win over Loughborough A (Louis Richardson, Arthur Coveney, Adam Peers) in the final. In the bronze medal match, top seeds Oxford A (Alex Smith, Charlie Birch, Ciprian Zahan) overwhelmed Nottingham A (Richard Haydock, Michael Hall, Steve Tuplin) 20-9, setting a new tournament record in the process.

There were 20 different universities taking part with Teesside making their BUTC debut.

Oxford A set a new BUCS record in the Bray I qualifying round, with a score of 826. This beat the previous record, set by Edinburgh in 2011, by a single point. Nottingham A and Edinburgh A also broke the 800 point barrier with 814 and 808 respectively, whilst Southampton A were fourth on 796. Loughborough A edged out Warwick A 790 to 789, with Birmingham A and London A were 7th and 8th on 785 and 782. The B teams of Edinburgh, Lancaster and Cambridge were 9th to 11th ahead of Cambridge A in 12th, the four sides in the lower 770s. The remainder of the top 16 were Nottingham B, Nottingham Trent A, Lancaster A and Derby A.

Top individual qualifier was Tom Hall (Warwick A) who scored 282. Andrew Howe (Southampton A), Alex Smith (Oxford A) and Richard Haydock (Nottingham A) all hit 279, with Howe on 15 golds as against 11 each for Smith and Haydock. Charlie Birch (Oxford A) dominated the ladies qualifying with 276, a full ten points clear of the field. There was joy for the hosts as Klara Krouthen (East Anglia A) notched 266 in second, one ahead of Johanna Meyer (Edinburgh A). Top novice was Xi Wang (Napier B) on 232.

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.

Before the start of the hit/miss matches there was an immaculately observed moment of silence to remember Werner Beiter, a proud supporter of this event, who passed away in November. He always enjoyed this event very much and, with the agreement of the Beiter family, Ian McGibbon was able to announce that the BUTC trophy will now be known as the Werner Beiter trophy.

In the first half of the round of 32, defending champions Oxford A got off to a perfect start with an 18-4 demolition of Surrey B. Surrey B only gained a space (originally they were second reserve) on the Friday afternoon and Oxford A had the match wrapped up with an end to spare - an entire BUTC campaign in under 24 hours. Oxford A then produced to the only perfect pass of the round of 32 to win 18-4. Southampton A (qual 4th) despatched SEAL rivals Reading A 12-3. London A opened a big early lead beating Derby B 13-6, but London B slipped out 4-8 to Nottingham B. Edinburgh B (qual 9th) endured a torrid time against Sheffield Hallam and were 2-3 down at half way, but just when Hallam sensed an upset, a devastating 5-0 in pass three saw Edinburgh B through 9-6. Another top seed to get themselves out of trouble with a 5-0 pass were Loughborough A (qual 5th). The 2012 champions were actually 2-0 down to Reading B, but despite the huge rankings gap, Loughborough could only get to a 6-5 lead with a pass to go, before coming through 11-5. Cambridge A gradually out-scored Imperial A 12-7, whilst the only upset of the round was Warwick B (qual 17th) who beat Derby A (qual 16th) - last years bronze medallists - 10-6.

Teesside were the only debutantes at BUTC this year - having also joined NEUAL for the first time. They had qualified in a respectable 23rd, but in their first taste of the yellow discs they were outgunned, losing 6-12 to Cambridge B. Both of the hosts' teams were also eliminated. East Anglia B lost 13-2 to Warwick A, but things were a lot closer for East Anglia A. They ran Lancaster A (qual 15th) close, but could not make the leap in to round 2 losing 6-8. Lancaster B (qual 11th) joined their A team in the last 16 with a closely fought 6-5 win against Surrey. There was double disappointment in this set of matches for Napier, Napier A not threatening Birmingham A (qual 7th) despite a low scoring 7-3 match. Meanwhile Napier B lost 15-3 to city rivals Edinburgh A (qual 3rd). Nottingham A (qual 2nd) briefly looked to be in a contest with Essex as the first end ended 2-2, but 11 further hits without reply saw Nottingham A sail through. Nottingham Trent produced a 9-5 win over Southampton B.

The round of 16 featured 10 clubs associated with the BUTTS league - the only fixture to not involve a BUTTS club at all was 8th v 9th, London A v Edinburgh B. Predictably this was a close match with things all square with the last end to go and it was underdogs Edinburgh B who struck, 3-1 in the fourth to go through 10-8. Edinburgh B were the only B team to make the last 8 and they were joined by Edinburgh A as they recorded a 17-10 win over Nottingham Trent. Edinburgh A closed out the match with consecutive ends of 5. Oxford A and Warwick A both hit 6 out of 6 in the last ends of 16-6 and 16-5 wins over Warwick B and Lancaster B respectively. Lancaster were the only NEUAL side left in the round of 16, but their A team were also knocked out at this stage, as Nottingham A gradually eased to a 15-8 win. Like Lancaster, Cambridge's A and B sides saw their challenge end at this stage. Cambridge A and B both hit 11 discs, but the A team went down 11-17 to Loughborough A whilst Cambridge B went down 11-12 in a nail-biter against Birmingham A, the match level going in to the last pass. Southampton A led Nottingham B by the odd disc at the half way stage of their match and that tiny advantage was maintained with two tied passes, the match ending 10 discs to 9.

Getting down to the last 8 and removing bosses can have different effects on different teams. Five of the eight quarter-finalists opened five hits from six shots. Despite doing this, Edinburgh B went behind in their match as opponents Oxford A cleaned up with 6/6. Although both sides faded slightly as the match wore on, Oxford A won all four passes to claim a 19-13 win, matching the team total record (set by Nottingham A in the 2011 QFs) with the match aggregate of 32, one short of the record set in last year's SF. Southampton A appeared to be getting the better of Loughborough A, leading 13-12 after three passes but collapsed with the finishing line in sight, losing the pass 5-1 and the match 17-14. In Warwick A against Edinburgh A, the first end also finished 5-5, and Warwick had a narrow 8-7 lead at half way, but after this point, the teams went in opposite directions. Warwick A rattled in 5 and 5 in the second half of the match. In response, Edinburgh A crumbled, mustering only a solitary disc, and narrowly avoiding the indignity of losing with an end to spare. The tie of the round however, was a repeat of the 2011 final and the match that got off to the quietest start. Birmingham A led twice 3-2 (after 1 end) and 9-8 (after 3 ends) but on both occasions Nottingham A levelled things off, with the regulation match ending 12 apiece. Perhaps surprisingly this was the only tie-breaker of the day. Birmingham A needed the last arrow to save the first shoot off 1-1 and as the noise levels ramped up the teams still could not be split as the second and third ends both ended 2-2. Finally at the fourth attempt - matching the BUTC record - Nottingham A hit a maximum 3 out of 3 to finally break Birmingham A's resistance.

The semi finals took place simultaneously. Oxford A and Loughborough A was a repeat of the match at the same stage last year that set the aggregate record for a KO match at 33. Loughborough and Oxford traded early blows were level early on 3-3, but as Oxford struggled to replicate their earlier form it was Loughborough who won both the second and third ends 4-3. Oxford did kick back in to life with 5 in the last end, but it was too late as Loughborough matched them to win 16-14, to dislodge Oxford's grip on the BUTC trophy and end the Dark Blues' run of consecutive match wins at 13, three short of the record. The other semi-final between Warwick A and Nottingham A was also very close, but much more topsy-turvy. The two sides exchanged ends of 5-2 to make it 7-7. Warwick won the third end 5-4, before the last end ended level to send Warwick through to their fourth final.

Often the bronze medal match can feel like, an aperitif leading up to the main event, even though the 2015 version pitted two two-time champions against one another. Oxford chose to use it to break not one, but two long standing BUTC records, as they overwhelmed Nottingham 20-9. Successive ends of 5, a perfect 6 and 4, had put Nottingham 15-7 ahead and guaranteed them bronze. In the last end of the medal they powered in another 5 hits to become the first club to score 20 in a single match - the maximum possible is 24. In racking up such a monstrous total, Oxford brought their tally across the 5 matches to 87 hits - annihilating the previous record of 79. Coupled with also breaking the Bray I qualification record, bronze medals might have felt like rough justice for Oxford, but BUTC can be a cruel competition.

The final pitted 2012 winners and 5th seeds Loughborough against 3-time runners up and 6th seeds Warwick. Warwick began the match stronger and took advantage of an early Loughborough wobble, taking the first two passes 4-2 and 3-2. Loughborough began to kick in to gear in the third pass, knocking out 4 discs, but Warwick were equal to it, and took an 11-8 lead in to the last pass. There were nervy moments from both sides as the match (and the tournament) came to its conclusion. The final end was low scoring but Warwick held their nerve to win the match and the title of BUTC champions for the first time.

BUTC could not go ahead with the support of its two key long terms sponsors, Clickers and Beiter who were once again critical to the success of the day, with Clickers supplying the bosses and timing equipment and Beiter the hit/miss apparatus. Thanks are also due to the many people who worked hard in the months and days leading up to the tournament and on the day itself, particularly East Anglia themselves, the judging, IT and organising teams, commentators and absent friends.

So the BUTC circus leaves East Anglia and the little yellow discs are packed away for another year. Could your club help to organise a competition like that? Expressions of interest in hosting BUTC 2016 are welcome - just contact UKSAA.


Quarter Finals

  • Oxford A (1) beat Edinburgh B (9)
  • Loughborough A (5) beat Southampton A (4)
  • Warwick A (6) beat Edinburgh A (3)
  • Nottingham A (2) beat Birmingham A (7)

Semi Finals

  • Loughborough A beat Oxford A
  • Warwick A beat Nottingham A

Third/Fourth place play-off

  • Oxford A beat Nottingham A

Final

  • Warwick A beat Loughborough A