UK Student Archery Association

BUCS Indoor dates published [26/Oct/23]

Dates for all the BUCS Indoors 2024 events have now been published, alongside confirmation of the qualifying scores. As a result of that, BUTC now has a preferred date, Sunday 3rd March, with a fall back date of the 23rd/24th March. This will be the 20th running of BUTC - potential hosts should contact UKSAA. And scores for Round 1 of the E-League must be shot by 31st Oct, with scores due by 7th Nov. Scores shot in November can be entered in Round 2.

Joseph Gallimore is the new BUCS Events Co-ordinator for Archery, replacing Erin Simmonds.

So a reminder of how BUCS Indoor Championships works. To be eligible to enter the three Regional Qualifying events, you must first have shot a pre-qualifying score. Those scores must have been shot under competition conditions, for example a regional league fixture. The 2023 scores have not been changed for 2024, but they will change for the 2025 event, in line with the latest ArcheryGB Update. For senior recurves, the requirement is a Portsmouth/WA18 score of 400 or more. For novice recurves it's 277 or more. The full list for all bowstyles is on the BUCS Indoor Qualifying Scores page.

Once you've got your pre-qualifying score, you're eligible to enter Regional Qualifying. There are three of these and your club will be allocated to a venue, based on their geographical location and the capacity of the venues. It's important to note that there's no guarantee of exactly which venue your club will be at, except for host unis. It is possible to request a move, if you have a particular reason to do so. In 2024, the Central Qualifier will be at Manchester Met on Sat 17th Feb. The following weekend, the Southern Qualifier will be at Bristol on Sat 24th Feb, with the Northern Qualifier in Central Lancashire on Sun 25th Feb. The round used for all three is a Portsmouth.

Results from the 3 qualifiers are combined and the top archers will be invited to the National Finals. In 2023, the Portsmouth cut off score for gent recurves was 521 and for lady recurves was 497.

In 2024, the Finals will be held at Warwick on Sat 16th Mar. Competitors will shoot a WA18. Men's and Women's team of 3 scores are calculated, with the top 8 teams winning BUCS points, the top 3 teams winning medals. Depending on the how many competitors there are, the top 64 (or 32 or 16 etc.) individuals then contest the head to heads. Last season, 64 gent recurves made the cut, with WA18 scores of 440 and above. On the women's side, it was only a top 32, which needed a WA18 score of 459 or above.

The head to head matches are knock-out and use the set system, (apart from compounds who shoot a 15 arrow match) to determine the individual BUCS point winners (top 4), medallists and champions. It's definitely a marathon not sprint. It can take nearly 250 arrows to win a BUCS individual recurve title.

Manchester Met, Bristol and Warwick are hosting their respective events for the fourth time in a row - one pre-Covid, three after. By contrast the Northern Qualifier moves to its third different host in three years. UCLan last hosted this event in 2018, the last time the Northern Qualifier took place in England. At that time however there was only a Northern and Southern Qualifier.