UK Student Archery Association

These BUCS girls can't [23/Feb/18]

BUCS Regional Qualifiers are taking place this weekend in Preston and Crawley. BUCS have quietly made a change to the Pre Event Info suggesting that women will now only be offered 106 spaces at the National Finals - as against 142 for men.

Just take a moment to let that sink in.

In 2017, the shiny new National Finals event offered the same number of places to men and women. This season that appeared to be the case again, but the Pre Event Info now shows that, 84 gents and 53 lady recurves will qualify for the Finals. This move away from gender parity may stem from entry levels, or could even be based on scores/liklihood of making H2Hs. Regardless, it is an absolutely astonishing change from BUCS - home of the #thisBUCSgirlcan. The girl who finishes 54th and can't because she didn't qualify may not agree - and neither may the gent who finishes 84th and does get to turn his arm over in Bristol.

In competitive terms it doesn't make sense either. There are the same number of titles (1), medals (3), placings awarded BUCS points (4) and number of those who will progress to the H2Hs (recurves 32). The only difference is that now, more men than women will be allowed the same privilege.

Also, it will now be significantly more difficult for a meaningful number of universities to get 3 female recurves through to the Finals. This undermines the credibility of the ladies team event - remember BUCS award BUCS points to the top 8 men's and women's senior teams, but these team scores are calculated from the Finals' ranking round. [para. added later]

Barebow spaces are divided 38/29, compound has gone the other way 12/16 (significantly out of kilter with entry levels), with longbow the sole bastion of equality 8/8 - although there only seem to be 9 ladies longbows in the qualifying field.

If it can be changed, one would hope it can be changed back.

There are the usual standard reminders - ArcheryGB membership card, your student card, marked arrows and the usual clothing requirements. Barebows must remove sight blocks and clickers. Any club that has the AGB numbers and cards for competitors which weren't submitted at the time of entry please contact Alysha Martin at BUCS to get the AGB number updated at no charge.

Archers attending Northern Qualifiers on Saturday should be aware that it is also UCLan's applicant day. This may mean parking is tighter than usual. The Northern Qualifier will run across both days of the weekend, following the abandonment of a Scottish Regional Qualifier. This was to have been hosted by Strathclyde (and would also have doubled as SSS Indoor Champs). SSS Indoors itself now has to move and all the Scottish clubs have travel times substantially increased.

The postcodes are PR1 2HE (Northern) and RH11 9BQ (Southern).

For more info BUCS Indoor Championship pages on UKSAA and on BUCS' own websites.