UK Student Archery Association

Opening salvos from BUTTS [23/Nov/11]

Warwick won the senior BUTTS match at the weekend, but there were a number of interesting and potentially important stories inamongst all the scores.

First of all is the remarkable statistic that out of the eight teams in BUTTS, all eight teams went over 2100, four (nearly five) of whom broke 2200 as well.

Warwick's winning total of 2249 was built around a trio of 560s from Rachael Hutchison, Jorge Lindley and Matt Cranham. Behind them there was an almight scramble for second with Cambridge, Nottingham and Oxford all in the 2210s. Despite Matthew Langton (Oxford) producing a 580, the top score in the match, the Dark Blues' total of 2217 was only enough for third. It wasn't enough for second as defending champions Nottingham posted 2219, top scorer Chris Fry with 571.

According to the BUTTS website, Nottingham were missing top archers George Harding and Andrew Randall. How crucial could it be for BUTTS' defending champions that they still managed to claim the 7 league points for a second place finish. Only 10 points fewer in the match would have dropped them from second to fourth and from 7 to 5 league points. This would make it much, much harder to claw back any gap to the league leaders.

Despite breaking 2200 in mid-November, Cambridge's 2210 was only enough for fourth, Liu Zhaoyong and Heather Reynolds either side of 560. Tom Cram (Loughborough) got 573 helping his side to 2195 and fifth place. Birmingham were sixth on 2149 ahead of Derby and Nottingham Trent.

Derby, at the start of their fifth season in BUTTS, finally recorded their first senior team win, with 2134 ahead of Nottingham Trent who finished last despite getting 2118. William Varney (Derby) scored 565.

The novice match was won by Cambridge whose (team of 4) total of 1895 was only just enough to beat Birmingham's 1890. Loughborough were third. Significantly the top three novice teams came from the Loughborough leg. Due to hall booking problems the first leg was split across two different weekends, with the Loughborough leg coming a week later. Coming so early in the season it undoubtedly played a role in the novice results, although to what extent won't be clear until the end of the year.

So a fascinating opening to BUTTS 2011/12, see the BUTTS tables after one match. The teams lock horns again on Saturday at Warwick and Oxford, both legs on Saturday.