UK Student Archery Association

Qualifying for BUCS [02/Mar/26]

2026's BUCS Indoor Championship Regional Qualifying events were held at Manchester/MMU (7th Feb), Bristol (14th Feb) and Aberdeen (22nd Feb). A total of 781 qualifiers completed their scores - that's a notable increase on the previous years - 2025:712 2024:734. The scores were also used for NEUAL, SEAL and SWWU matches. BUCS have published the full combined results (currently on ianseo). Subject to confirmation, the minimum scores that successfully qualified for the National Finals event in Warwick (Sat 14th Mar) break down as follows: for recurve 529/503 (open/women), barebow 467/433, compound 576/564, and for longbow 337/126. Full details of the National Finals are on the BUCS website and combined results are on the ianseo pages. For the links, see the BUCS Indoor section of this site.

The combination of venues - Manchester/MMU, Bristol and Aberdeen - is an exact repeat of last year's. The Central and Southern qualifiers have now been in the same location since 2020.

In total, 254 spaces have been allocated at the National Finals, 127 open and 121 women. That means whilst the number of places by bowstyle has been allocated according to volume of entries, for the first time, gender has not. This means the Finals have a fair 50/50 split - a decision which will have a positive impact on women's participation and one which should also ensure greater parity of recurve teams.

Top individual qualifier was William Addison (Keele) who scored 591. Addison was 4 points clear at the top with Maxwell Oakley (Wolverhampton) and top lady Louisa Piper (Nottingham) both scoring 587. Myles Hulme (Lancaster) was third in the open standings with 584, one ahead of Jack McKay (Warwick) who was one ahead of Mykhailo Pavlov (Dundee). Yin Chan (Imperial) was sixth on exactly 580. Piper had a 14 cushion in the ladies field. Sophie Roberts (Birmingham) and Alia Fallouh (Leicester) were second and third on 573 and 572. 11 gents broke 570. Eliza Tully (Reading), Michaela Tesar (St Andrews) and Gabrielle Micallef (De Montfort) were next in the ladies field.

In the other bowstyles, the top end Oliver Hicks (Birmingham) dominated the gents barebow field with 580. Hicks' own All Unis record is 581. Myfanwy Fflur (Manchester) shot 564 - a figure that would have been an All Unis record prior to this season. Joe Maskell (Plymouth) was third on 554 - the gap from 1st to 4th was 42 points. Danni Chambers (Queens) top the ladies barebow standings on 521. Chambers' lead was 9 points over a chasing pack, led by Rose Mouat (Strathclyde). 20 women were within 42 points of first.

In compound, the stand out performance came from Bayley-Rose Sargeant (Kent). Sargeant scored 596, a score that not only beat the All Unis record (formerly 595) but also set a new National Record and also tied the gents equivalent All Unis record. One of the co-holders of that record is Kai Thomas-Prause who shot for Warwick at that time, but is at Leicester now and scored 594 to top the open standings by a point from Finlay Clark (Hull). Hallie Boulton (UCLan) was on 588, one ahead of Chloe A'Bear (Gloucestershire). Third compound gent was Sam Cartwright (Nottingham), who also shot 587.

Top longbows were Alex Adeyemi (Aberdeen) and Helen Woodcock (MMU) on 380 and 422 respectively. Rhiannon Wood (UWE) was second lady on 381.

In the Resources section, the National Historical Performances spreadsheet has been updated with 2026's BUCS Qualifying scores.

SEAL, SWWU and NEUAL all used these scores as a match round.

In the extracted SWWU match, with confirmed results, Bath scored 2221 to take first place. Exeter were not far behind on 2199, with Bristol in third on 2175. Plymouth were fourth on 2114, whilst Bristol won the novice match comfortably from Bath. Bath now have 49 points (from 5 matches) in the senior SWWU table. Exeter and Bristol both have 41. Bristol have 30 points (from 3 matches) in the novice table, with Swansea on 24.

Results from SEAL will go with the results from SEAL match 4 (from the 21st/22nd Feb) to give the final SEAL tables.

Results from NEUAL will go with the results from NEUAL match 2 which is happening at the moment.