Loughborough A (Tom Cram, Mat Cole and Laura Church) won the 2012 BUTC final 15-13 against Nottingham A (George Harding, Chris Fry and Charlie Birch). The final started slowly with Loughborough two up at half way and holding that advantage throughout as the pace quickened to a blizzard of discs by the final whistle. Edinburgh (Erik Rowbotham, Margaux Mesle and Douglas Jardine) beat Oxford (Jess Walker, James Dunbar, Angelina Measures) in the bronze medal match.
Clubs from 23 universities contested the tournament with one side, Queen Mary, making their BUTC bow.
Lancaster A and Loughborough A were the early leaders in the ranking Bray I before Lancaster A slipped back in the second half. This allowed Edinburgh and Nottingham A to challenge. Keele and Bath were also hopping around the leading places. Loughborough A put in a great consistant performance to qualify first on 821, only 4 points off the tournament record and take first place convincingly. A second half rally saw Edinburgh place second on 813, with Nottingham A third on 801. Keele were fourth on 792, with fifth placed Bath, five points behind on 787. Hosts Warwick A led the chasing pack with 778, with Southampton A and Lancaster A separated by a point on 774 and 773. Birmingham A got 770 in ninth place with Reading completing the top ten on 765. Positions 11 down to the half way point of 16 were separated by a mere 7 points, all in the 750s. Napier A, who had been running in the top 8 eventually finished 12th on 755, sandwiched by the Oxbridge clubs, Cambridge 11th on 758, Oxford 13th on 754, recovering after a poor start. The last three slots on the top half were split between NEUAL trio York, Durham and Sheffield. York were 14th on 752 and 24 golds, with Durham on the same score but 20 golds and Sheffield one point behind.
Mat Cole (Loughborough A) finished top of the gents individual leaderboard on 282, with Erik Rowbotham (Edinburgh) one behind on 281. Tom Cram (Loughborough A) was third on 279. Margaux Mesle (Edinburgh) finished top lady with 272, just ahead of Hannah Beasley-Suffolk (Imperial) on 270, whilst Julie Chenery (Reading) was third on 265. Top novices were Louis Richardson (Loughborough B) and Kat McManus (Napier B) on 244 and 242.
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.
In the top half of the first round draw, top seeds Loughborough A initially struggled in their match against Liverpool B but got to grips in the second half to power to an 11-3 win. The match between 16th and 17th is usually a close affair and so it proved here as Warwick B (qual. 17th) upset Sheffield by 7 discs to 6. Remarkably, in all the other matches in the top half, the winning team scored exactly 9 discs. Southampton B (qual. 24th) had only secured a knock-out space after two withdrawals, but they went out 6-9 to last year's finalists Birmingham A. Lancaster A were 9-4 winners against NEUAL rivals Liverpool A, but Lancaster B went down by the same scoreline to Bath - this was Bath's first KO win since 2005. Oxford and Keele set up a second round meeting as Oxford beat Imperial A 9-7 and Keele saw off Exeter 9-5. Loughborough's day got even better as their B team (qual. 21st) ousted Napier A - the biggest casualties of the first half of the round - 9 discs to 4, leaving Napier still searching for that elusive KO win after seven attempts.
The second half of the first round produced the only tie break of the day as Reading and Imperial B (qual. 23rd) finish on 8 discs each. In the shoot off, underdogs Imperial B were triumphant 2 hits to 0 and Reading became the highest ranked side eliminated in the first round for the second year in a row. Nottingham A were presented with the opportunity for the ultimate embarrassment as they were drawn against their own B team (qual. 30th) all of whom were novices. Nottingham B did acquit themselves very well with 8 hits, but Nottingham A squeezed in to round 2 with 11. Queen Mary (qual. 19th) got their BUTC life off to the perfect start with a 8-4 win over York. South coast Southampton A saw off the most northerly club in the competition Aberdeen by 8 discs to 5, a slow start costing Aberdeen badly. There were comfortable wins for Edinburgh, Warwick A and Cambridge. Edinburgh thumped East Anglia 15-4, 15 the highest score in round 1. Cambridge beat Birmingham B 12-3, whilst the home side's A team beat all novice Napier B 10-3. London (qual. 18th) turned around a 5-2 deficit at half way to upset Durham 7-5 and notch their first KO win at this event since making the 2003 quarters.
In the round of 16, defending champions Nottingham A and newbies Queen Mary produced an epic encounter going disc for disc, level with an end to go, Nottingham A's superior firepower got them a 15-13 win, Queen Mary desperately unlucky to go out with that score which would have won any other match bar one in the round. Edinburgh against London saw both teams in double figures. Edinburgh were looking increasingly impressive, with 18 hits only one off the tournament record, London's tally of 11 was not enough. For Southampton A, 11 was enough as they beat Imperial B 11-4. Both Warwick teams faced opposition from BUTTS. Warwick B lost 10-8 to Loughborough A, but Warwick A beat Cambridge 12-8 after running away with the second half. Warwick have attended nine out of the ten BUTCs held to date and have made the quarter-final line up every time. Birmingham A were not able to recapture the magic of 2011 as they slipped out in a close match, 10-8 to Lancaster A. Bath continued their good form with a comfortable 10-5 win over Loughborough B, but 4th seeds Keele's good day came to a juddering halt with an 8-2 reverse to Oxford, only the last end preventing a whitewash.
Edinburgh did the damage in their quarter-final against Southampton in the first half, with the SUS champions 10-5 up at half way, including a perfect pass. Southampton were in danger of being blown away, but with the result effectively assured, the match petered out a little, finishing 14-9. The quarter final line up included a repeat of the 2009 final as Nottingham A took on Warwick A. The match started slowly but then Nottingham A raced in to a seven disc lead with the last end now a formality. With the pressure off, Nottingham A also shot a perfect pass for a 17-6 win and to set up a semi final with Edinburgh. Loughborough A against Lancaster A was a tight affair, the sides level after each of the first three ends, Loughborough eventually just about getting over the line 9-8. Having disposed of 4th seeds Keele, Oxford then did it again by beating 5th seeds Bath. Oxford went 6-2 up at half-way and although Bath fought back, the Dark Blues went through 9-7.
The first semi-final was Loughborough A against Oxford, both sides having made one prior appearance at this stage. Loughborough took an early 3-1 lead and never let go, winning all four passes and running out 16-7 winners. After scores in the previous rounds of 11, 10 and 9, Loughborough's 16 was a welcome boost for the team that had qualified top of the Bray I. The second semi-final was Nottingham A against Edinburgh and a repeat of the 2010 final. The top two from the BUCS Championships a few weeks ago immediately laid in to one another, with Nottingham A going ahead, then being hauled back by Edinburgh from 4-4 to 8-7 at half way to 12-12. Only with the last few arrows did Nottingham A finally get on top, winning a great match 16-13 and making the final for the fourth consecutive year.
In the third place play off, Edinburgh ran out 10-8 winners over Oxford. Neither side really hit the heights in this match, but once Edinburgh had established a 3-1 lead in the first pass, Oxford were not able to make any subsequent inroads as the match progressed to 6-4, then 8-5 before finishing 10-8. Edinburgh won bronze in this event for the second year on the bounce, whilst Oxford matched their best ever BUTC result of 4th, which they achieved in 2009.
So 32 teams were reduced to only 2. Loughborough A had excelled in qualifying top, but had not hit the heights in the knock-out matches until the semi-final demolition of Oxford. Were they peaking at the right time? Nottingham A, who qualified third had endured a much harder route through the early rounds and were on a high following a pulsating win over Edinburgh. Nottingham A went in to the match slight favourites as defending champions and also BUCS Indoor winners. First end nerves were affecting both sides as Loughborough A went 2-1 ahead. In the second end the match started to warm up and again Loughborough A pinched it by the odd disc to take the overall score to 6-4. The amount of discs tumbling was now accelerating fast, but although Nottingham A tried to get reverse the deficit, Loughborough A began to hit their stride also. The third pass finished 4-4, bringing the score to 10-8. Shooting first in the last pass Nottingham A applied as much pressure as they could, but still Loughborough A resisted and Nottingham A were up against it with their last few arrows. In the end Loughborough A needed 1 hit to force a shoot-off, or 2 hits to win, but the 3 hits they secured ended the day with a flourish for a 15-13 win and Loughborough A's first BUTC title.
Thanks to all who assisted with putting on BUTC 2012, the host club of Warwick, the organisational team, the judges and commentators who put together the event that produced a great show. Thanks also to the archeryfocus.tv team who broadcast live coverage of the event to those up and down the land who couldn't made the journey. Thanks to the event's chief sponsors Clickers and Beiter. Sadly Werner Beiter himself was not able to attend this year, but the four teams who made the semi-finals can attest to his generosity and support of the event.
So as BUTC X takes its place in the history books, immediate attention turns to the thermometer and the skies as the outdoor season looms - BUCS Outdoors has been awarded FITA Star status and Lilleshall is booked, but there is no host club yet, so please contact BUCS about that. For BUTC though, the countdown to 2013 has already begun. BUTC is a prestigious and complex event. Is your club up for the challenge, or do you simply fancy first dibs on a B team space? 13 is lucky for some, so contact UKSAA straight away.
Quarter Finals
Semi Finals
Third/Fourth place play-off
Final
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