UK Student Archery Association

Saints go marching, win [04/Mar/19]

Results have been published for SSS match 5 (9th Feb) and SSS Indoors (23rd Feb). Reviews of the finish to NEUAL and BUTTS (tl;dr joining St Andrews as champions are Bradford and Warwick) will follow shortly.

In SSS match 5 however, St Andrews withstood a fightback from Edinburgh to win the match (with 2215) and with it the SSS league title. Edinburgh were second in the match on 2200 exactly, but because Strathclyde were third back on 2110, Strathclyde held on to second place overall, with Edinburgh finishing third. Paul Ross and Yohann Renault (both St Andrews) hit 574 and 563, whilst Robin Burton (Edinburgh) scored 561 in reply. Andrew Smith (Napier) scored 572 – Napier were fourth on 2068 – with Guillaume Andrieux (Glasgow) top scorer with 581.

St Andrews can therefore celebrate SSS title delight, whilst second is Strathclyde’s best league finish since 2005. Edinburgh were third, bringing to an end their run of 16 consecutive SSS league titles - some highly competitive, some less so. Edinburgh did contribute to their own downfall this season, with a late (and therefore restricted) entry to match 4. However, Saints were the only team to win more than one league match and this greater consistency put them over the top and deservedly earned them the title. [para. updated Ed.]

Final standings: St Andrews 68, Strathclyde 66, Edinburgh 65, Napier 62.

In the novice event, Edinburgh were the winners on 1465, with Napier in second place on exactly 1400. The top two in the match were also the top two in the SSS novice table. Monica Jones (Edinburgh) was top individual on 513. Since their admission to the SSS league in 2005/06, Napier have finished 2nd in the SSS novice table in 6 of the last 8 seasons. Edinburgh also completed the relative formalities of a compound league clean sweep, Heriot-Watt second on the day and overall.

Two weeks later all of SSS reconvened in St Andrews for the Indoor Champs. This is a freestanding event and does not count towards the SSS League. As it had been in match 5, St Andrews and Edinburgh were 15 points apart, but this time it was Edinburgh who came out on top ahead of the Fifers, 2210 against 2195, despite Paul Ross (St Andrews) scoring 585, Petr Manas (Edinburgh) with 562 in reply. Guillaume Andrieux (Glasgow) shot what is almost certainly a SSS record with 592, with Andrew Smith (Napier) adding a 568.

Edinburgh won the novice and compound events very comfortably, with different clubs picking up silver. Edinburgh’s novice team smashed in a 1601 score (the All Unis record is 1638). Brian Kim (Edinburgh) was pick of the bunch on 555. St Andrews’ novices were second on 1496. Napier’s novices took bronze, and their compounds took silver ahead of Strathclyde.

SSS 2018/19 has been box office, with 4 different winners in 6 matches, big match to match swings, a healthy dollop of controversy and SSS’ first non-Portsmouth round. There still remains the SSS H2H – a team of 3 event (one novice, one C class, one compound) where teams must be of mixed universities.

Sadly Abertay dropped out of the league this season – they had shared a venue with Dundee but had become too large and do not have a home venue. Glasgow did join, although were only ever a one man team, but Stirling did not. Hopefully some version of all three teams will complete in SSS next season.