UK Student Archery Association

Happy NEUAL year - almost [31/Dec/09]

Results from the other four NEUAL matches in the first two batches of fixtures and the NEUAL Novice Champs have now been published, specifically York v Lancaster v Durham, Keele v Leeds v Huddersfield from batch 1 and Lancaster v Bradford v Leeds and Keele v York v Liverpool from batch 2. See latest NEUAL tables.

Defending NEUAL champions Lancaster did not get off to the start they would have wanted, slipping to second against Roses rivals York. The White Rose team total was 2134 - enough for a 22 point winning margin. Durham were third in the match, going just under 2000. John Lane scored 556 for Lancaster, but York's Arjun Kharpal notched a 568. Both Roses sides won their following matches in different styles. Lancaster scored 2162 to thrash Bradford (second) and Leeds (third) whilst York slipped to 2082 to nudge past Liverpool's 2062 and Keele's 2024. John Lane and Will Fortnam shot matching 554s for Lancaster, Arjun Kharpal 560 for York. In the other match Keele's 2051 saw them comfortably clear of Leeds, who were themselves well clear of Huddersfield.

How important will Lancaster's dropped point be by the end of the season? Lancaster and Sheffield have the (almost identical) highest match aggregates so far, but Lancaster are that crucial league point behind. York are second in the senior table behind Sheffield, having both collected maximum 20 points from their first two matches, Lancaster are third on 19, Liverpool and Keele on 18.

Sheffield have swept all before them in the NEUAL novice league which is looking increasingly like a race for second place. York's novices joined their seniors in edging out Lancaster who were second clear of Durham. Leeds beat Keele with Huddersfield third to complete the first batch of matches. In the second York failed to field any novices scoring zero league points (instead of 8 for coming third). Liverpool fielded two novices, leaving the way open for Keele, who duly won the match easily. Lancaster just beat Leeds with Bradford only fielding one competitor.

In the novice champs Sheffield recorded an easy home victory, just missing out on a 1500 by a single point - quite an achievement before Christmas. Their trio of Gareth Beeby, Simon Marcus and Stuart Sinclair has been the same in all three of Sheffield's outings and their smallest winning margin has so far been 199. Keele were second at the Novice Champs scoring exactly 1300. The battle for third was extremely close with Durham, Leeds and York all with a few points, Durham claiming bronze. Points for the Championships are 10 for 1st, 9 for 2nd etc., so a good or bad (relative) performance can have a pronounced effect on the league table and will usually cause the league table to spread out. Sheffield are top with 30 out of 30, Keele second on 28 and Leeds third on 26.