BUSA Indoors Review [21/Mar/07]

Leeds played host to BUSA Indoors 2007. There were no less than a mind-boggling 510 entries to the tournament. Too big even for Leeds' two halls which had a capacity of just over 400 and there was a waiting list in operation with the largest clubs' entries all cut - something which was to prove crucial in the final results. In the end there were 382 starters - just one short of the record set in Loughborough in 2005.

Edinburgh claimed a magnificent fifth BUSA Indoors in a row and for the second year in a row increased the BUSA record with 2276 (team Andrew Ward 575, Jenny Jeppsson 573, David Lange 571, Alexander Lamb 557). The Scottish side were hotly pursued by Warwick who scored 2265 (team Richard Proctor, Thomas Kemp both 571, Alex Stuart 566, Christopher Butler 557). Warwick gained an element of revenge for their BUTC semi-final exit to Cambridge by nudging the Light Blues into third despite them scoring 2261 - 3 points more than they shot to break the record for highest ever score to be 2nd, 12 months ago (team Sam Burnand 573, Robert Dunn 567, Ric Whalley 565, Ian Caulfield 556). Oxford beat off competition from Imperial to finish fourth with Sam Johnson 566 and David Longworth 556 keeping the Dark Blues 7 points ahead of Imperial 2191-2184. The SEAL champions had three scores in the low 550s. Sixth place was a tight battle between Keele and Southampton epitomised by Matt Walker (Keele) and Rob King (Southampton) who top scored for their clubs with 558 each. Southampton emerged with 2168, Keele one solitary point behind. Now that BUSA points have been extended, the race for eighth meant the difference between a BUSA point and not. There were three unis within five points as Durham, York and Surrey jostled. In the end York with 2151 nudged ahead of Surrey on 2150 and Durham on 2146. Just outside the top ten, despite a 570 from Andy Tan, Exeter scored 2137 to keep themselves ahead of Birmingham's 2131. Nottingham, 13th, completed the leading group of universities on 2113. There were 28 complete teams of four and 37 unis with recurves.

Edinburgh were also novice team champions after a fierce battle with Cambridge which ended 1556-1551 in Edinburgh's favour (teams Felix Pretis 522, Hugh Wilson 519, Kyshiea Steele 515 for Edinburgh and Ivan Hoo 525, David Bebb 517, Maciek Hermanowicz 505 for Cambridge). Returning to BUSA competitions after a five year absence, Aberdeen won bronze with 1510 (team Stephanie Scott 528, Nathalie Gough 498, Rolf Schafer 484). Just under the 1500 mark, BUTTS pair Birmingham and Nottingham were fourth and fifth on 1495 and 1486, Birmingham's Charlie Bacon on 527 while NEUAL Champions Keele were sixth on 1482, top scorer David Williams on 520. Imperial completed the leading group on 1472. There were 24 complete novice teams with a total of 29 unis fielding novices.

Gents recurve had 194 finishers, but it was Andrew Callaway (Bournemouth) who emerged on top, adding his first individual Indoors crown to go with his 2 Outdoor titles, scoring 582 to win. Silver and bronze went to Colin Geenes (Coventry) on 579 and Sam Perkins (Kent) a point further back. On his own on 575 in fourth place Andrew Ward (Edinburgh) claimed the last of the BUSA points available in this discipline. As a double-bower Ward receieved last priority over spaces that became available, but there were sufficiently many DNSs in the morning session for him to shoot and his contribution was telling. Not only did he win BUSA points himself but without his input Edinburgh's senior team would have found themselves on 2250 - and in third place. Sam Burnand (Cambridge) on 573 was in fifth place ahead of three archers all on 571. Richard Proctor (Warwick) with 36 golds nudged ahead of David Lange (Edinburgh) and Thomas Kemp (Warwick) who tied in seventh on 35 golds. In ninth place Andy Tan (Exeter) was the last man to score 570, whilst Robert Dunn (Cambridge) rounded off the top ten with 567. Kept narrowly outside the top ten, Samuel Johnson (Oxford) pipped Alex Stuart (Warwick) by a single gold 32-31 after they had both finished on 566. One point behind them was Ric Whalley (Cambridge) and a point behind him was Steve Beecher (Cranfield) in 14th, completing the leading group.

Jenny Jeppsson (Edinburgh) successfully defended her title from last year with 573 despite stiff competition from current BUSA Outdoors champion Jacqui Gould (Greenwich) the margin of victory 3 points, whilst bronze went to Madeleine Lane (Coventry) who scored 564. After the top three there was then a nine point drop to fourth and fifth where Helen Markland (Cambridge) and Georgina Porter (York) both scored 555. Markland's 29 golds were enough to secure the final BUSA points available in this category. There was then another big drop to sixth where Louise Smith (Sheffield) with 545 had enough to beat Julie Chenery (Warwick) on 544. Linda Stuart (Leeds Met.) rounded off the top group in eighth on 539, despite suffering a miss.

Novice recurve was closely contested, with no enormous scores but lots of good ones. Phil Middleton (Loughborough) shot 530 to win by three from Charlie Bacon (Birmingham). Middleton would have been 57th overall. Ivan Hoo (Cambridge) claimed bronze with 525 making it a BUTTS 1-2-3. David Williams (Keele) was fifth on 520 sandwiched between Edinburgh pair Felix Pretis (4th on 522) and Hugh Wilson (6th on 519). A total of twelve novice gents broke 500, but in contrast only two ladies achieve this. Stephanie Scott (Aberdeen) cruised to victory with 528, trailing everyone, including silver medallist Kyshiea Steele (Edinburgh) 513, in her wake. Nathalie Gough (Aberdeen) made it a SUS 1-2-3 on 498, just in front of Nottingham duo Rosie Homer on 497 and Melissa Wolfe 496. Daria Chernoivanova (Keele) was sixth on 491.

Gents compound was incredibly close, three archers within a point at the finish. Getting his nose in front at the line, Tim Nash (London) with 584 held the slenderest of leads over Andrew Ward (Edinburgh) and Colin Geenes (Coventry) who tied on 583. Phil Glover (Loughborough) shot 581 to complete those winning BUSA points and the gents compounds over 580. None of the top eight gent compounds shot any eights. In ladies compound there were eight competitors, but one emphatic winner as Stephanie Crang (Gloucestershire) fired in 582 to win by the astonishing margin of 20 points and demolish the old BUSA/All Unis mark, set in 1997, by 10. Ali Sewell (Edinburgh), who waived her rights as a novice in order to (try to) win a senior medal and BUSA points was rewarded with both as she shot 562 to be second. Sarah York (Edinburgh) was third on 559 and 21 golds, bumping Becky Gridley (Keele) into fourth by a single gold. Gridley, who also shot 559 to win last year at least has the consolation of fourth place carrying BUSA points.

Jim Smyth (Plymouth) defended his gents barebow title with 466 ahead of Kieran Whitworth (Bangor UW) on 451 and Ian Rutter (Durham) 449. Top gent novice was Sam Knight (Bath) on 429. Top lady barebow was Mary Ann Richardson (UW Inst Cardiff), perhaps more familiar with a compound in her hand, she broke the BUSA record with 492. Helen Bundy (Derby) was second on 467 and Elizabeth York (Bangor UW) was third on 437. Top lady novice was Leanne Wagstaff (Leeds) on 405, much to the delight of the home crowd. Gents longbow was fiercely contested with Owen Roberts (Swansea UW) eventually beating Alfredo Da Silva (Bangor UW) 297 to 295. Ian Rutter (Durham), double bowing barebow-longbow picked up another medal, third with 276. Top novice was a new BUSA record for Jonathon Mathews (Swansea UW) on 230. There were only two ladies longbows, and Zoe Smith (Reading) won convincingly on 268.

For the first time at a BUSA Championships, the tournament organisers were forced to operate a waiting list system, because of the phenomenal level of interest. In the end, however there were a few spaces, because many archers on the waiting list chose not to travel on the off-chance of drop outs - of which, disappointingly there were more than 30. Clubs who attempted to field over 15 archers were cut back, but everyone on the waiting list who took a chance and attended got to shoot, even the double bowers. A total of 5 BUSA records were broken (TRE, LCE, LCN, LBE and GLN) with the 582 from ladies compound Stephanie Craig (Gloucestershire) also an All Unis record.

Despite its size, the tournament ran with no major hiccups and even ran to time. Leeds and those co-opted from nearby clubs (notably Sheffield and York) all did a great job in their unusually vibrant green t-shirts. The black shirts of the ACME crew also did their thing, running leaderboards and producing complete results within 45 minutes of the final whistle and as is only right, parties continued all over the city well into the night.

News and Editorials 2006/2007

  • Summer of archery successes [10/Aug/07]
  • Summer of archery [11/Jul/07]
  • Maskell for Murkin in SWWU switchover [02/Jul/07]
  • BUSA Outdoors Review [22/Jun/07]
  • BUSA build-up and results round-up [11/Jun/07]
  • Ban on Heriot-Watt now lifted [04/Jun/07]
  • Swansea grab shock SWWU win [30/May/07]
  • Derbies for Derby [14/May/07]
  • Edinburgh's thousand point stroll [09/May/07]
  • Wins leave Cambridge 1st, Southampton 2nd [04/May/07]
  • In praise of BUSA [25/Apr/07]
  • BUTTS becomes Midlands Conference [19/Apr/07]
  • EResults from the ELeague [11/Apr/07]
  • Emma Downie goes to Izmir [02/Apr/07]
  • Scores from Glasgow and Galway [27/Mar/07]
  • BUSA Indoors Review [21/Mar/07]
  • Aberdeen SUS league's best of rest [15/Mar/07]
  • Keele win NEUAL plus BUTTS/ELeague news [13/Mar/07]
  • BUTC Review [08/Mar/07]
  • Cuts to mammoth BUSA field [06/Mar/07]
  • Updates from NEUAL [02/Mar/07]
  • Imperial hit their stride at right time [28/Feb/07]
  • BUTC: teams, targets and questionnaires [26/Feb/07]
  • SEAL shoot-off beckons [23/Feb/07]
  • SUS Head to Head success [20/Feb/07]
  • BUTTS double header [16/Feb/07]
  • Two-by-four's a BUTC knockout [14/Feb/07]
  • Edinburgh/Cambridge axis of ELeague [08/Feb/07]
  • York and Keele set up showdown [05/Feb/07]
  • RSS Feeding Frenzy [01/Feb/07]
  • Imperial, Sussex (and Edinburgh) claim wins [30/Jan/07]
  • Unlucky £13 for BUSA price hike [22/Jan/07]
  • New Year News [16/Jan/07]
  • Low scores as St Andrews go top [27/Dec/06]
  • York and Keele go neck and neck [12/Dec/06]
  • Cambridge edge BUTTS thriller [06/Dec/06]
  • BUTC Bid Date and Hot Hit-Miss Info [27/Nov/06]
  • O'Connor fires Keele to opening win [16/Nov/06]
  • Eleague's starter for 20 [08/Nov/06]
  • Eyes down for 06/07 [23/Oct/06]
  • Hosts required for BUTC [16/Oct/06]
  • Archery a winner in BUSA points revamp [15/Sep/06]

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