UK Student Archery Association

BUCS Indoor 2024 Finals [22/Mar/24]

Nottingham (men's) and Edinburgh (women's) won the respective 2024 BUCS Indoor recurve team titles. They did so with almost identical scores, Nottingham's men scoring 1617 and Edinburgh's women on 1618. This is Nottingham's first men's team win since BUCS separated out men's and women's teams in 2015 - they have won 5 women's team titles in the same period. Edinburgh won their first national title since men's team gold at BUCS Outdoors 2017. Nottingham's men were pursued closely by Warwick who were only 6 points behind on 1611. There was then a little gap down to Lancaster who scooped third with 1579. This result matches Lancaster's best ever finish at a national event 3rd at BUCS Indoors 1995 and BUTC 2009. Birmingham and Oxford won ladies team silver and bronze, a little more spread out here on 1585 and 1557.

Off the podium, Imperial were 4th in the gents team, their best result at a national since 2010. The Imps' total of 1567, kept them just ahead of Bath on 1552. There was a fifty point gap to the teams picking up the remaining BUCS points Southampton were 6th on 1502, with Birmingham in 7th (1488) and Sheffield in 8th (1476). There were 19 complete gents teams.

Fourth place in the ladies standings went to Loughborough - the same as 12 month ago - although they did beat their score by 21 with 1478. League rivals Warwick were close behind on 1468. Bristol scored 1442 in 6th, with Surrey 7th (1414) and Nottingham 8th (1384) as the disparity in men's/women's numbers made its presence felt. There were 17 complete ladies teams but once again the lower reaches of the ladies team rankings reflect the fact that fewer women than men are allocated spaces. Top barebows move in to the spaces vacated by 3rd best recurves and the team scores drop accordingly.

There were only 2 compound teams of 2 this year, but it was a 3 point game. Edinburgh defended their title with 1158, with Nottingham the only opposition on 1155.

Since 2017, BUCS Indoors has used regional qualifying events to whittle down the field. In 2020, the number of regional qualifying events rose from 2 to 3. The National Finals consist of a WA18m ranking round, with a further cut for those qualifying for H2Hs. Men's and women's recurve team titles were determined from the 18m round scores. Once again, places at the finals were allocated proportionally by bowstyle, but also proportionally by gender, which gave a roughly 55/45 male/female split and meaning that women's H2H field was smaller in some bowstyles.

This is the seventh season BUCS Finals have used the WA18m format. Gents barebow record was smashed by Daniel Kilgallon (UCLan), who scored 540 to put a full 18 points on the previous record.

Kim Minseok (Southampton) beat Luca Anghelache (N Trent), 6-5 in a shoot-off in the gents recurve final. Kim was the 12th seed and Anghelache the 11th. Kim took the first set 29-28. The next three sets were all shared and Anghelache needed a 29 to force a shoot off, but it was Kim who emerged victorious, 10-9. Kim adds indoor gold to the outdoor silver he won at Lilleshall in 2023. Kim's route to the final started with shooting the better 9 in a shoot off against team-mate Freddie Crosby (Southampton) in the round of 32. He then upset 5th seed Callum Piggott (Coventry) 6-2, before whitewashing Yuen Lau Tsz (Birmingham). Kim opened his semi-final against 1st seed Alex Lai (Dundee) with yet another 28, before hitting the gas, with two ends of 30. Lai had beaten Christopher Woodgate (Warwick) in the quarters. Lai had been 5-1 up, but eventually needed a shoot off to go through. Joshua Morris-Jones (N Trent, q 14th) ousted 3rd seed Konstantinos Charalambous (Lancaster) in the round of 16, before running into his team-mate Anghelache - who had also caused a seeding upset, beating Alex Williams (Bristol) who was seeded 6th. Scores of 29 won each end of the all Trent clash, Anghelache won 6-4 and followed it up by winning his semi against 2nd seed Jack Wells (Sheffield). Wells was 4-2 up thanks to three 28s, but a 30-28 finish meant Wells faced Lai (seeds 1 and 2) for bronze. This match also went to a shoot off, where both shot 10s - Wells' arrow was closer. Wells had beaten Hay Lau Lok (Imperial) in the quarters. Biggest upset win was Simon Hake (Surrey, q 26th) who won his first round match in style before losing to Hay Lau Lok. Southampton, N Trent and Sheffield all won their first individual recurve BUCS medals for a decade.

Natasha Homer (Edinburgh) beat Roisin Mooney (Bristol) in the ladies recurve final. The first end was shared with 28, but from there on in, Homer was in sparkling form, with 30 and two 29s to win the match 7-1. Mooney was the top seed and Homer third. In contrast with the men's side, where only 3 out of the 8 top seeds made the QFs, six of the top eight women did so. Homer's 6-5 semi-final win over 2nd seed Megan Costall (Birmingham) had been an epic. Homer shot 29-28 to go 4-0 up. Costall responded with a 30, a 29 (shared) and another 29 to force the shoot off, but Homer came out on top. Homer beat Hannah Evans (Nottingham), seeded 22nd, in the quarters. Mooney overcame 8th seed Imogen Newby (Surrey) in their QF, before a semi-final against Imogen Flitter (East Anglia) which had only 3 points in it over 4 ends - Mooney winning 6-2. Costall beat Flitter 7-1 in the bronze medal match, with three ends of 29 doing the damage. In the other QFs, fifth seed Flitter beat fourth seed Grace Goh (Edinburgh) 6-2, whilst Megan Costall beat Ecaterina Pogorenii (Oxford) by the same margin. The biggest upset on the ladies recurve side was the 26th seed (same as the men's), Amy Phelps (Warwick) was only knocked out in the second round by Pogorenii.

Both men's and women's compound saw their top 4 qualify directly to the semi-final stages. Compound KO matches are 15 arrow matches rather than sets. In the men's final Jake Walsh (Edinburgh q 2nd) beat Sam Cartwright (Nottingham q 1st) 146-144. Walsh won the first and fifth ends by a point each. The same two gents contested the final last year, with Walsh getting his revenge for defeat 12 months ago. Walsh also won the title in 2022. Josephine Stewart (St Andrews q 4th) beat Chloe A'Bear (Gloucestershire) 143-142 in the women's final. The pair were level after four points, with Stewart winning the last end 29-28. Layla Annison (East Anglia) and Kong XiangKun (Edinburgh) won the bronzes. Walsh hit 148 in the semi against teammate Kong, missing out on the All Unis record by 1.

In barebow the top 32 men and top 16 women qualified for the knock-out stages - both restored to their 2022 levels. Jiang Wenze (Manchester) beat Joe Maskell (Bath) 7-3 in the final. Fourth seed Maskell took the first set with a 28, but second seed Jiang won the second, third and fifth sets by a point - their match aggregates in the final were identical. Jiang had beaten 6th seed Adam Selman (West of England) in their semi, whilst Maskell had beaten top seed Daniel Kilgallon (Central Lancs) in theirs. Kilgallon had outqualified the entire field by 54 points and had won his first three KO matches without dropping a set. In the bronze medal match, Kilgallon went on to beat Adam Selman 6-2.

Ilia Sediq (Loughborough), the fifth seed, won the ladies barebow final with a clean sweep against 15th seed Jess Peers (Liverpool JM). In a parallel with the gents side, top seed Marilyn Wong (Plymouth) lost 6-2 in the semi-final against Sediq. Peers won her semi-final against Leah Millington (Newcastle) 6-2. Peers had earlier ousted 2nd seed Lydia Bignall (Birmingham) in the round of 16. Marilyn Wong got back to winning ways in the bronze medal match, 6-2 against Millington.

Both longbow gents and ladies had enough competitors for a last 4 knock-out. Jago Elliott (Nottingham q 2nd) beat Ben Moore (Edinburgh q 4th) 6-4 in the final. Moore had led 4-0, but Elliott won a crucial 3rd by a single point and never looked back. Helen Woodcock (Manchester Met) beat Katie Axup (Loughborough) in the ladies final. Axup and Woodcock won gold and bronze a year ago. Callum Anderson (Southampton) and El Green (Plymouth) won bronze medals this year.

As always, many thanks to all those who donate their time and energies to putting on a such great competition, including the teams at Warwick and the three Regional Qualifiers, UCLan, Manchester Met and Bristol. These kind of tournaments could not happen without so many willing and able volunteers.