UK Student Archery Association

Episode III of the E-League [14/Feb/20]

Three leagues, BUTTS, SEAL and the E, have all declared third round results in the last few days. Today we adjust focus to nationwide.

Before we get to the main E-thrust of this E-article, BUCS regional qualifying starts this weekend with the first ever "Central" region qualifying at Manchester Met. If you are social media-ing, please try to use #BUCSarchery. There is a link to the ianseo page in the BUCS Indoor section so you can follow along live. The other fixture this weekend is SSS match 5 - a podium finish will see Napier win the SSS league title for the first time.

E-League match 3 ran throughout December and January. See E-League section of this site for relevant links on the E-League website.

Warwick won the round with 2301, whilst Plymouth pipped Oxford to second 2275 to 2267. Loughborough, Birmingham, Nottingham and Exeter were all in the lower half of the 2200s from 4th down to 7th. Rachel Moon (Keele) pipped Ellie Jones (Oxford) to top lady. Arthur Coveney (Loughborough), Joe Tripp (Plymouth) and William Pike (Warwick) were in a three way tie at the top gents recurve.

Warwick now have a maximum 45 out of 45 from three rounds. Birmingham are second but are now six behind on 39 and only 1 ahead of Plymouth. Oxford are now fourth on 31, having overtaken Exeter, now fifth on 29.

A few teams are likely to post best-ever finishes in the E-League. The reorganisation at least partially responsible as it allows teams' improvement to be immediately reflected rather than take 4 years of climbing through the Divisions. Before last season's E-League results stopped being published, Plymouth were heading for promotion from Division 2 into Division 1. Oxford's best finish is 4th in Division 1 in 2011/12, whilst Exeter's is 8th back in 2005/06 and 2006/07. St Andrews (currently 7th) had never been higher than the Conference.

In the women's individual, Rebekah Tipping (Birmingham) keeps a one point advantage over Sarah Allaway (Warwick) after they finished joint 3rd in the round. Ffion Edgeley (De Montfort), Ellie Jones (Oxford) and Elenor Piper (Birmingham) are in the low 40s. Piper did not enter a score in round 3 and drops from 1st to 5th. William Pike (Warwick) was one of the 3 gents to score 20 points and has a perfect 60. Joe Tripp (Plymouth) has 54. Alex Rowe (Plymouth) and Paul Ross (St Andrews) have 49 and 48, with Christopher Woodgate (Warwick) making up the top 5.

In the other categories, Faye Balcombe (Leicester) and Tim Jackson (Warwick) have 4 point leads in the compound divisions. Emma King (Plymouth) and Stuart MacFarquhar (Southampton) have big longbow leads, whilst De Montfort duo Tia Mulholland and Chris Norwood lead the barebow way. Norwood is in a tight battle with Tom Walker (Birmingham).

Round 4 is February and Round 5 is March. Remember that you don't need to leave submitting your scores to the last possible day.