UK Student Archery Association

Bath hold on to take SWWU title [30/May/24]

Bath are confirmed as SWWU 2023/24 champions, following results from SWWU match 9. Bristol hosted and won the fixture itself, a WA720 on 19th May.

Last season, SWWU set a record for the highest number of matches in a regional league season with seven. This season they shot an incredible nine matches, with Bath and Bristol occupying the top two slots in eight of them. Bath led 39-37 at Christmas, but a WA18 in early February saw Bath slip to 4th - the 3 point swing put Bristol into the lead 47-46. Bath won the remaining two indoor fixtures (BUCS Q & SWWU IC) to retake the lead 66-65. When Bath won the first Outdoor match as well, they led by 2 points and by 201 on match aggregate.

Bristol won match 9 itself very comfortably. A total of 1873 gave them a winning margin of over 500. Bath were second in the match - crucially dropping only 1 league point - on 1339. Roisin Mooney (Bristol) was the top recurve in the match with 606. Novices and barebows shot a round down, with their scores included but adjusted downwards for 70m. Cardiff nudged just ahead of Plymouth as a result, third and fourth in the match.

Bristol comfortably won the novice match, with Exeter second. Lily Barrett (Bristol) was top individual novice on 401. Bristol's novices team knew they would be champions if they scored any league points at all in this match and they finished 12 clear on 79 points. Bath just helding off Exeter for second 67 points to 66. Bristol win the SWWU novice title for the second time, the first one came in 2017.

There were only 2 compounds in the entire compound match. Exeter took maximum league points and won the SWWU compound league title as a result, on 66 - out of 90 - points. Swansea were second overall on 62.

The senior SWWU championship win for Bath is their first since 2015 and they gained some revenge from 12 months ago, where they surrendered the league lead to Bristol on the final day. This title is Bath's 10th all-time senior SWWU win and they become the second club after Edinburgh to have won their senior regional league 10 times. Warwick are next, having won the BUTTS/TOUCAN senior league title nine times. Bristol narrowly missed out on a league hat-trick but had a strong campaign, including 3 match wins. Elsewhere in SWWU, Exeter kept up their record of never having finished outside the SWWU top 3 and there was a welcome return for Cardiff, who, having finished runners up in 2021/22, dropped out of the league altogether last season. The Welsh side bounced back into 4th place this season.

See the final SWWU standings on SWWU 2023/24 page.