UK Student Archery Association

BUCS Outdoor 2026 Review [31/Jul/26]

BUCS Outdoors 2025 took place at Lilleshall NSC over the weekend of the 13th and 14th June. Results from the WA720/H2H and WA900 were combined so both events contributed equally to determine the overall winners.

Saturday WA720 and H2H

This year the order of the events was the WA720 and H2H on the Saturday. Novices shot in a separate KO bracket. This is the 13th running of the competition, which first ran in 2013. As from 2021, barebows shot at 50m.

In ladies recurve, Sophie Bradford overcame clubmate Louisa Piper (both Nottingham) in the final. Bradford and Piper were seeded 2nd and 1st and the match was extremely close. There were one point margins in the first two sets, Bradford losing and then winning with 25s. The third end was 26-26. Two more 25s from Bradford saw her lose and then win again to make it 5-5 and force a shoot off, which she won with a 10. Both semi-finals had been relatively straightforward as Louisa Piper eased aside Julianna Ostrovska (q 5th, Birmingham) 7-1, whilst Bradford beat 11th seed Harriet Crook (Southampton). In the bronze match Ostrovska was well on top, winning the first 2 sets comfortably, before Crook came to life and made it 4-4. Ostrovska won the match by a point in the last. Both of the finalists came through against much lower ranked opponents in the QFs. Libby Aitken (q 25th, Surrey) and Kelsey Hunt (q 26th, Strathclyde) had already recorded some upsets of their own before bowing out in this round - Hunt did take the first set against Sophie Bradford. The first two sets of the Julianna Ostrovska vs Abigail Speltincx (q 4th, Northampton) QF were shared, but a 26-28 finish powered Ostrovska through. Also in the QFs, Harriet Crook surged past Selin Busoni (q 14th, Edinburgh).

In gents recurve, top seed (and current BUCS Indoor champion) Will Addison (Keele) made it a double, by beating second seed Max Oakley (Bolton) 6-4 in a tough match. After a tied opener, Oakley won the second set, but Addison hit back in sets 3 and 4 with 27-28 putting him 5-3 up. The last set was a tie, putting Addison into first. Both semi-finals were rollercoaster affairs. Addison had successfully come back from 4-0 and 5-1 down against Jack McKay (q 4th, Warwick), despite scoring 26-28-28. McKay couldn't quite keep the pressure on in sets 4 and 5 and Addison eventually came through a shoot off. Max Oakley's semi final against Misha Pavlov (q 3rd, Dundee) was not far short on the drama. Pavlov won sets 1 and 3 with 28's to go 4-2 up. A 28 from Oakley levelled the match, before a 27 won it. Pavlov beat McKay 6-0 in the bronze match. The top 8 ranked gents all made it to the QF's with 5th-8th losing. Jack McKay beat 2024 BUCS Indoor winner Kim Minseok (Southampton) 6-2, after Kim had won the first set. Max Oakley beat 2025 BUCS Indoor winner Callum Piggott (Coventry) also 6-2 but with ties in the first and third. Isaac McIlwrath (q 6th, Surrey) drew his first set against Misha Pavlov before ultimately going out 1-7. Jake O'Reilly (q 8th, Birmingham) went out 0-6 to eventual champion Addison.

In the compound finals, Kai Thomas-Prause (Leicester) beat Zachary Ball (Derby) 145-135, with Isabella Bruguier (Imperial) beating Bridey Simpson (St Andrews) 135-114 in the ladies final. Finlay Clark (Hull) beat Sam Cartwright (Nottingham) in the bronze match, which was a repeat of the gold match from 12 months ago. Bridey Simpson beat clubmate Alex Chun (St Andrews) in the semis and Chun won a second consecutive bronze at this event beating Caitlin Orr (Abertay). Thomas-Prause and Bruguier were both top seeds and were both comfortable winners. Kai Thomas-Prause also won the Outdoor H2H when shooting for Warwick in 2019 and 2021.

Gents barebow final was an all Birmingham affair as top seed Oliver Hicks beat second seed Josuf Hyseni 6-2. Hicks took the first set with a 27, before Hyseni equalised with a 27 of his own. With the match poised, Hicks finished 28-26 to take the gold. In the semi finals Josuf Hyseni needed a shoot-off to beat Joseph Eyres (q 6th, Liverpool) after the 2nd, 3rd and 5th sets were all 24-24 draws - neither man shot less than 24 for any end in the match. Oliver Hicks meanwhile whitewashed Luka Gillingham (Surrey) in the other semi, although Gillingham did then go on to beat Eyres 7-3 in the bronze medal match, repeating his bronze from last year.

In the ladies barebow final, top seed Roxana Attack (Liverpool) beat Nicola Harper (q 6th, Nottingham). The first end was a low scoring tie. Both women picked up in the three ends that followed - Attack won them all to take the gold 7-1. Attack had to defend against a comeback in her semi against Jude Batheram (q 13th, Reading). Batheram lost the first set, but won sets two and three to go 4-2 up. Attack won the crucial 4th by a solitary point and went on to win. Harper overcame Fin Hamp (q 2nd Surrey) 6-2 in the other semi, a 27-26 win in the first setting Harper on her way. Jude Batheram beat Fin Hamp in the bronze match, although she did let a 4-0 lead disappear before winning the last set.

In the longbow divisions, Kieran Rugg (Nottingham) beat Ben Moore (Edinburgh) in the open final, whilst Helen Woodcock (Manchester Met) beat Cizzie McGuinness (Dundee). Both Rugg and Woodcock were top seeds, but whilst Rugg's win was a relatively straightforward one, Woodcock came from 0-4 down against McGuinness and won the fifth and final set by only a single point. Woodcock has now won this particular title 4 times - a record in any bowstyle since the event came into being in 2013.

There were also separate novice H2H events. Top seed Skyler Airei (Leicester) won the the open novice recurve event. Airei beat William Threlfall (q 3rd, Birmingham) 7-3 in the final. Airei carved out a 4-0 and then a 5-1 lead in a competitive match. Threlfall had beaten Thilona Jaleeldean (q 2nd, Bristol) 6-2 after Jaleeldean had won the first set. Airei had beaten Toby Harper (q 13th, Loughborough) in that semi. Airei had led 5-1, but lost the 4th and only won the 5th by a point as Harper threatened another upset - having already beaten the 4th and 5th seeds in the previous rounds. Jaleeldean beat Harper for third.

The novice ladies recurve final was between Serra Toman (q 2nd, Leicester) and Lyanne Chung (q 4th, Leeds). Toman won the first set by a point, and then picked up the second set relatively cheaply to go 4-0 up and ultimately win 6-2. Chung had performed more strongly in her semi-final win against Bethany Harding (q 8th Nottingham), Chung winning 6-2. Harding had ousted top seed Evie Taylor-Carruthers (De Montfort) 7-3, by winning the last two sets. Serra Toman had whitewashed Lea Stanciu (q 3rd, Warwick) in the other semi. Harding beat Stanciu for third.

Novice ladies compound winner was Aleksandra Michalska (q 1st, Birmingham).

Novice barebow open final saw Patrick Culmer (q 2nd, Sussex) come from 1-5 down against Jacob Morgan (q 5th, Sheffield) to win 6-5, courtesy of a shoot off arrow. Morgan was in the final because he had upset top seed Yufeng Tang (Stirling) - also in a shoot off - in the semi final. Daniel Kennedy (q 6th, Nottingham) beat Tang to third.

In the novice ladies barebow final, Heather Li (q 1st Birmingham) beat teammate Charleigh Finch (q 11th, also Birmingham) 7-1. Finch had beaten Supprity Som (q 2nd Surrey) in the semi. Som went on to beat Anna Kyryk (q 5th Bath) for third. Kyryk's 3-7 defeat to Li did include the only set Li lost on her way to the win.

Novice open longbow winner was James Coward (q 1st, Nottingham). Kath Bentham (Nottingham) was unopposed in the ladies longbow novice category, but did break the only All Unis record of the day - beating her own mark shot earlier in the season.

Sunday WA900

Ladies recurve on the Lilleshall Sunday saw Louisa Piper and Sophie Bradford (both Nottingham) move clear of the field and tussle for the lead - a virtual repeat of the day before. The pair were first and second at all three disatnces, moving 7, then 29, then 36 clear. Piper led by 3 before Bradford won 50m by 5. Piper however returned the favour at 40m to end on 824, with Bradford on 821. Harriet Crook (Southampton) was 10th after the first distance but was best of the rest otherwise and narrowly prevented a Nottingham podium sweep. Crook's 785 just held off Hannah Evans (Nottingham) on 783. Lucy Hawkings (Keele) and Emily Menezes (Surrey) were 5th and 6th, both on 778, with Hawkins ahead on Xs. Eliza Tully (Reading) had an up and down shoot - 3rd after 60m, but losing ground at 50m in particular to end up 7th on 772. Julianna Ostrovska (Birmingham) was 8th on 768. Bethany Woodcock (Huddersfield) and Lamya Majeed (Birmingham) completed the top 10, either side of 750.

In the open recurve field, Will Addison (Keele) was 9 clear after the first distance and stretched that to 15 as he won 50m as well. Max Oakley (Bolton) did cut in to Addison's lead over 40m but it was not quite enough. Addison's winning total was 858, with Oakley on 848. Jack McKay (Warwick) was third overall (with the 2nd highest scores at 60m and 40m) on 833. McKay had battled it out with Kim Minseok (Southampton) and Misha Pavlov (Dundee), with Kim on 829 and Pavlov fifth on 829. Callum Piggott (Coventry) was 10th after 60m but hauled himself up to 6th and a score of 820, with Myles Hulme (Lancaster) 7th on 814. Positions 8 down to 11 were only 3 points apart, just either side of 800. Cheung Sum Hin (Sheffield) and Harry Lam (Bath) were 8th and 9th, both on 801. Jake O'Reilly (Birmingham) and Luke Burch (Exeter) were 10th and 11th on 799 and 798.

In the compound divisions, Kai Thomas-Prause (Leicester) and Isabella Bruguier (Imperial) both led all day long. Thomas-Prause's 889 narrowly missed out on the All Unis record (893), but Bruguier's 879 was enough to beat the existing ladies record by a single point. Finlay Clark (Hull) was second in the open field on 881, just a shade clear of Zachary Ball (Derby) who scored 878. Clark did the damage at 50m, beating Ball by 5 here. Alex Chun (St Andrews) and Faye Balcome (Leicester) were second and third in the ladies field.

Oliver Hicks (Birmingham) has made a bit of a habit of re-writing the open barebow All Unis record this season and he was at it again, scoring 823 and breaking the existing WA900 mark with a full 6 arrow end to spare. Luka Gillingham (Surrey) was defending his title from 12 month ago and was only 13 behind after 1 distance but could not keep the pressure on, however it's worth noting that Gillingham's final score of 763 would also have been enough to beat the previous All Unis record of 756. Myfanwy Fflur (Manchester) was third in the open barebow field on 746.

Twelve months ago, ladies barebow WA900 produced a thrilling see-sawing contest and it was so again this year. Katherine Lamont (Abertay) took the lead by 6 points after 60m, with Fin Hamp (Surrey) leading the chasing pack. 50m saw Lamont drop back and Roxana Attack (Liverpool) and Nicola Harper (Nottingham) charge past their rivals. Attack led Harper by 3, with the field at least 11 further back. Fin Hamp (Surrey) produced a late charge at 40m to take the win with 650, Attack second on 642, Lamont on 633 and Harper on 630.

Kieran Rugg (Nottingham) won open longbow with 424, with Helen Woodcock (Manchester Met) winning the ladies event with 312. Jago Elliot (Nottingham), (last year's open winner) and Sabrina Seidumanova (Edinburgh) were runners up.

In the novice standings, Skyler Airei (Leicester) on 749, with William Threlfall and Baldip Chohan (both Birmingham) in second and third on 737 and 727. Chohan had been second before 50m dropped him down the field a little, before bouncing back at 40m. Amber Moores (Loughborough) opened up a commanding lead in the ladies novice recurve table of 25 points after 60m, but she was made to hold on by Serra Toman (Leicester) who was 30 behind, but cut that deficit to 7 by the final whistle. Moores ended on 707, Toman on exactly 700, with Evie Taylor-Carruthers (De Montfort) third on 662. Aleksandra Michalska (Birmingham) was top ladies compound novice on 748 - the open novice compound category was uncontested. In the novice open barebow, Jacob Morgan (Sheffield) and Patrick Culmer (Sussex) were exactly level at the top after two distances, 20 clear of the field - almost a 36 arrow shoot off. The day previously Culmer and Morgan had contested the barebow novice open final, won by Culmer with a shoot off arrow. This time it was Morgan who pulled away to win with 642. Heather Li (Birmingham) won the ladies barebow with 591, just missing out on the All Unis record. Supprity Som (Surrey) was second after a strong 40m. James Coward and Katy Bentham (both Nottingham) shot almost matching scores - 299 and 296 to win the novice longbow events.

Results

Team scores were calculated across all non-compound archers and across the WA720, H2H and WA900.

Birmingham won the open team event and Nottingham won the women's team event. Nottingham's women won both the BUCS team titles this year and they have now won the Outdoor women's title 4 times in 5 years. For Birmingham, this is a first BUCS team title of any kind since 2020. Nottingham, Birmingham and Surrey won all the recurve team medals at this event. Silvers went to Nottingham (open) and Surrey (women), whilst bronzes went to Surrey (open) and Birmingham (women). Surrey, who won SEAL this season, have only recorded 1 previous recurve team podium at a nationwide event (3rd at BUCS Indoors 2008). Here, they got two more - silver in the womens is an all time best result. Dundee (open) and Liverpool (womens) both recorded their best ever finish at a BUCS Outdoors and both recorded their best result at any nationwide student event for over 40 years. On the open side, 5th to 8th were Bath, Keele, Warwick and Southampton. 5th to 8th womens teams were Reading, Leicester, Huddersfield and Edinburgh. Bath had their best Lilleshall finish for a decade, whilst Keele and Huddersfield had their best ever result at a BUCS championship, indoors or out. There were 17 open teams but only 9 womens.

The top of the novice team table was very similar to the top of the senior team tables. Nottingham took top spot, with Birmingham in second, and Leicester third. Surrey were fourth. There were 12 full teams in total.

Top compound team was Leicester, with Birmingham in second and Imperial third. There were 7 compound teams of 2 in total.

Will Addison (Keele) won the BUCS Outdoors open recurve title, sweeping the WA70, H2H and WA900 events and landing on a perfect score of 3. Addison also won the BUCS Indoors title this year. Taking 2nd place in all three events was Max Oakley (Bolton) who thus scored 6. Misha Pavlov (Dundee) and Jack McKay (Warwick) both scored 11, with the fact that Pavlov beat McKay in the bronze match meaning he also took overall bronze, with McKay taking the last of the individual BUCS point scoring positions. This is Dundee's first individual BUCS recurve medal. Minseok Kim (Southampton) was fifth on 14 points, with Callum Piggott (Coventry) on 19, Jake O'Reilly (Birmingham) on 25 and defending champion Cheung Sum Hin (Sheffield) 8th on 29. Harry Lam (Bath) and Aryan Sharda (Surrey) led the chasing pack and rounded off the top 10.

Ladies recurve was - inevitably - between Louisa Piper and clubmate Sohpie Bradford (Nottingham). Piper and Bradford were 1st and 2nd in all three events, with Piper's win on the Sunday WA900 giving her 4 points and the title to Bradford's 5. Louisa Piper has now won a total 7 BUCS individual titles, including doubles in 2023 and 2026. with Behind the top two, there was a bit of a gap to Julianna Ostrovska (Birmingham) and Harriet Crook (Southampton) who secured the last BUCS points in third and fourth with 16 and 18 points. Abigail Speltinckx (Northampton) and Emily Menezes (Surrey) both scored 21, Speltinckx taking fifth from a superior H2H finish. In fact the H2H in the women's final tables was quite disruptive with early exits dropping a few women several places down the final standings. Women's recurve 7th down to 12th were from 31 points down to 36. Eliza Tully (Reading), Selin Busoni (Edinburgh), Alia Fallouh (Leicester) and Lucy Hawkins (Keele) were the rest of the top 10.

Kai Thomas-Prause (Leicester) and Isabella Bruguier (Imperial) won the compound weekends, both with a perfect score of 3. Finlay Clark (Hull) and Alex Chun (St Andrews) were second, with matching 7s (2s from the "stroke play" events and a 3 from the H2H). Zachary Ball (Derby) and Bridey Simpson (St Andrews) were third. Top barebows were Oliver Hicks (Birmingham) and Roxana Attack (Liverpool). Hicks had 3 points, with Attack able to drop a point in the WA900. Josuf Hyseni (Birmingham) was second open barebow, holding off Luka Gillingham (Surrey) 8 points to 9. William Anderson (Dundee) was fourth on 15. Fin Hamp (Surrey) was second overall on the women's barebow with 7. Nicola Harper (Nottingham) and Katherine Lamont (Abertay) were third and fourth on 12 and 16. Kieran Rugg (Nottingham and Helen Woodcock (MMU) won the longbow titles.

In the novice recurve final standings, Skyler Airei and Serra Toman (both Leicester) took the open and womens titles. Airei scored 3, with William Threlfall (Birmingham) second on 7, with Thilona Jaleeldean (Bristol) in third with 10 and Baldip Chohan (Birmingham) fourth on 13. Evie Taylor-Carruthers (De Montfort) was second in the novice women's standings with 10. Lyanne Chung (Leeds) and Amber Moores (Loughborough) were third and fourth respectively, both on 13. Novice open compound was uncontested, with Aleksandra Michalska (Birmingham) winning the women's event. Patrick Culmer (Sussex) and Heather Li (Birmingham) were novice barebow winners, with Jacob Morgan (Sheffield) and Supprity Som (Surrey) runners up. James Coward and Katy Bentham (both Nottingham) won the novice longbow categories.

See results in BUCS Outdoors section.