UK Student Archery Association

SWWU 8 delivers finale [27/May/25]

Results from SWWU match 8 have been published, see the SWWU 2024/25 page. SWWU 8 was a WA720 held in Bristol on 18th May and was the season finale. Bath won the senior and novice team parts of the match. Bath (seniors) and Exeter (novices) finished top of their respective SWWU leagues to claim the titles - remarkably, in both cases, Bristol were level on points but lost out on match aggregate. Exeter (seniors) and Bath (novices) were third, just a point the leaders in both cases.

In SWWU match 8 itself, archers who shot at shorter distances had their raw scores adjusted to 70m equivalents (for the senior match) and to 60m equivalents (for the novice match). Bath scored their second consecutive outdoor SWWU leg win with 1847, nearly 200 clear of Exeter and Bristol. Exeter took second in the match, narrowly (and crucially) edging Bristol into third place, 1658 to 1655, despite Alex Williams (Bristol) top scoring in the match with 585. Williams also won the following H2H, beating Darrell McFaweya (Exeter) in the senior recurve final.

Bath's match win, coupled with Bristol's slip to third - by a mere 3 points - meant that Bath drew level with Bristol at the top of the table on 70 league points. Exeter finished just one back on 69. Bath already had a superior match aggregate and so they pipped Bristol to the post for the SWWU overall league title. SWWU's two outdoor matches proved profitable for Bath as they wiped out a 4 league point deficit. This is a record 11th senior SWWU title for Bath. Bristol and Bath have won the last 22 SWWU legs - 11 each - a run that goes back to November 2022. Last season, the two rivals were only separated by 1 league point - this season it was none at all. Despite this apparent duopoly, Exeter could also have snatched the 2024/25 title. Looking back to SWWU match 5 (aka BUCS qualifiers), Exeter were third on 2129, just 24 behind Bath. If Exeter had beaten Bath there, Exeter would have won the title instead.

In novice match 8, Bath took the honours with 1203, including 456 from top novice recurve Jonathan Jackson. Bristol were runners up on 1113. Exeter trailed a distant third - although just how distant would make a critical difference to the final standings. These results meant Bath went up to 58 league points, with Bristol catching up one league point to Exeter on 59. Having gained one league point against Exeter, Bristol then also needed a 444+ match aggregate swing. Exeter's match total was 712 and the swing was "only" 401, meaning Exeter held on to win the SWWU novice league title. This is Exeter's first SWWU novice title since 2016 and is their fifth win overall. In SWWU's novice league too, small margins abound. An extra 7+ points for Bristol in match 6 or an extra 2+ points in match 3 for Bath would have put them over the top.

Compound match 8 consisted of one archer. Plymouth gained 10 points from the match and stayed second overall. Swansea had won all 7 previous SWWU compound matches and had already won the league title, but this DNS denied them a clean sweep. There was only one instance (Cardiff in match 6) of a club other than Swansea fielding two compounds.

Last day drama - or at least uncertainty - is not uncommon in a regional league season. A rummage in the UKSAA's results cabinet suggests that SWWU 2024/25 has provided only the 12th and 13th instances of a regional league needing match aggregate to break a tie for first place. In fact it has never happened in SWWU before. The combination of both senior and novice league titles being decided on match aggregate in the same season has never happened anywhere before.

The SWWU season wrapped up with a Clout shoot, including SWWU Alumni, held at Keynsham Archers in Bristol on 24th May. This didn't count towards league standings.