UK Student Archery Association

Some old E-League news [05/Dec/25]

The Editor was hoping to an Editorial every (week)day in December, but that plan has come off the rails already. However, to paraphrase Meatloaf, four out of five ain't bad.

The E-League is running in 2025/26. More or less any Portsmouth, scored under proper competition conditions can count - results from most regional league fixtures are suitable and there is the standard variety of team and individual categories. There are usually 5 rounds. Generally speaking the deadline is the 7th of the following month. See the E-League section of the UKSAA website for details.

The E-League is a great way to test yourself against those outside your immediate regional league bubble. And on that note, good luck to all the student archers at the ArcheryGB National Indoor Championships at Stoneleigh Park in Warwickshire this weekend.

Problems with website access meant that the official 2024/25 E-League results ended up being hosted on UKSAA, rather than just reported on.

In 2024/25, Birmingham won the overall E-League, with Warwick in second and Leicester making it a TOUCAN 1-2-3. Birmingham's previous E-League wins came in the 2016/17 and 2017/18 seasons. Third place is not just Leicester's best ever E-League result but also their best all-time finish at a national student event. Birmingham won 4 of the individual rounds to end on 99 points, with Warwick winning the other one. Warwick totalled 94, with Leicester on 84. Southampton (76) were fourth overall, with Sheffield and Liverpool 5th and 6th (69 and 67). Sheffield were another to record their highest E-League placing. Bristol were seventh on 62 points and Surrey were eighth on 53. If it were a BUCS championship event, the BUCS points would stop there. York and Exeter rounded off the top 10 on 46 and 45 points respectively.

Individually, Jack Wells (Sheffield) and Megan Costall (Birmingham) took top spots, albeit in contrasting fashions. Costall outclassed the ladies field, recording a clean sweep of 5 wins for a maximum 100 points. Alice Haskell (Leicester) and Julianna Ostrovska (Royal Holloway) rounded off the podium, but were well back on 80 and 72. Gents recurve was far more chaotic, with 4 different gents winning the 5 rounds. Wells won the first of the gents recurve rounds, followed by Kian Watkins (Birmingham), then Wills Chiu (Warwick), then Chiu again, then Will Luddington (Sheffield). Watkins finished second overall on 78, with Frederick Crosby (Southampton) in third. Wells and Watkins had matching aggregate totals for the 5 rounds.

In the other disciplines, Alex Kendrew (Birmingham) just pipped Sam Prettyman (Leicester) 96-95. Both men were on 76 heading into the last round and Kendrew's winning margin in round 5 was a mere 2 points. Amiko Howell (De Montfort) won the ladies barebow event on 91, 11 clear of Marilyn Wong (Plymouth). who missed a round. Gents compound was even closer as Kabeer Abdulhusein (Birmingham) and Corey Richardson (Plymouth) both amassed 93 league point, with Abdulhusein taking the virtual crown on 5 round aggregate, 2827-2819. Faye Balcombe (Leicester) recorded a clean sweep in the women's. Samuel Davies-Jelly (Birmingham) and Alexandra Langdon-Reich (Sheffield) completed fairly straightforward wins. Winning recurve 24/25 novices were Nathan Haine (Sheffield) and Wiebke von Abel (Birmingham).