UK Student Archery Association

Editorial Articles (all) 2003/2004

International Bright Young Things [25/Aug/04]

The 5th World University Archery Championships and the Athens Olympic Games archery tournaments are now both at an end.

In Madrid, sole gent recurve Andrew Callaway qualified in 16th place and got a bye into the second round, where he smashed his Japanese opponent 169-157. The only person to record a higher score was Korean top seed Gye Dong Hyun. Unfortunately (and those who know their seeding arithmetic will be ahead of me here) who was Callaway's next round opponent. The last 16 match went to the wire - a 169-169 tie, but the Korean won the shoot off. Gye was never seriously tested again on his way to gold and Callaway can count himself particularly unlucky as his score was three points higher than the winning score for any other match in the round to finish 9th. Gye beat compatriot Woo Dong Chun in the final.

In the ladies, Naomi Folkard had some Athens business to take care of, leaving Lorna Provan was GB's only lady recurve (or compound). Provan qualified in 32nd and overcame a Pole in round 1, only to meet the top seeded Korean, (sound familiar?) Lee Hyung Jun and go out, finishing 21st. Lee beat home favourite Almudena Gallardo in a one sided final. GB did not have a full recurve team entered. In the gents team Chinese Taipei (or Taiwan) beat Korea in the final on a shoot off. China beat Korea in the ladies final, Japan picked up bronzes in both.

GB sent a full complement of gents compounds, Richard Wilkins (qual. 13th), Tim Keppie (qual. 21st) and Matt Price (qual. 23rd). Price was knocked out in round 1 by an American. Wilkins eased pass his Russian opponent with 171, whilst Keppie gained some revenge for the recurves by knocking out a higher seeded Korean with a 170. Wilkins and Keppie had set up a potential quarter-final meeting, but were blocked by two Italians who had qualified 4th and 5th. Wilkins lost 171-164 to Sergio Pagni and Daniele Bauro completed the Italian job (you knew that was coming) with a 167-161 win over Keppie. Bauro won the all-Italian quarter final and only lost in the final to Choi Yong Hee of Korea. Wilkins placed 9th, Keppie 12th and Price 19th.

GB did not enter any ladies compounds, but this was won by Mary Zorn of the USA who beat Amber Dawson, also of the USA in the final. In the ladies team, perhaps unsurprisingly, the USA won, crushing Mexico in the final. In the gents team, there was disappointment for the GB team as they went down to the USA who themselves went on to lose the final to Korea, Italy third.

Everyone knows what went on in Athens by now - it even made terrestrial TV coverage. Much of the focus was on four time Olympian (and of course BUSA Indoor 2003 champion) Alison Williamson and we were rewarded (after a disappointing qualifying campaign which saw her finish 21st) with easy wins in the first two rounds before overpowering Chinese 5th seed Juanjuan Zhang in the last 16 and Chinese 4th seed Ying He in the quarters. This was the controversial match that saw He fire out of turn, be penalised an arrow value, then fail to shoot as well as her coach protested. Only top seed (and eventual winner) Korean Sung Hyun Park proved too strong and when Williamson beat Shu Chi Yuan of Chinese Taipei, GB's first Olympic medal since Simon Terry's bronze in Barcelona was won.

Olympic "novices" Helen Palmer (BUSA Indoor 1997 champion fact fans) was knocked out early by Ying He, but Naomi Folkard won through two rounds relatively comfortably before losing in the last 16 to winner Sung Hyun Park. Williamson finished 3rd, Folkard 11th and Palmer 54th.

In the gents, Larry Godfrey made the Olympics for the first time qualifying in 31st. Godfrey squeezed through his first round match only to meet Olympic silver medallist Magnus Petersson. Godfrey produced a sensational result, knocking out the Swede 163-162. He won his next two matches, including turning around a three point deficit with three arrows to go, but was eventually undone by Italian Marco Galliazo who went on to win. In the bronze medal match Godfrey was beaten by a solitary point by Australian wunderkid Tim Cuddihy, who earlier won the World Junior title at Lilleshall.

BUSA Outdoors 2004 Review [21/Jun/04]

Lilleshall played host to university archery's outdoor showpiece occasion for the fourth time on Saturday 19th June. The biggest ever recorded BUSA Outdoors field was spread over 53 bosses - just about the full length of the Lilleshall field. A total of 177 competitors from 26 institutions, including for the first time, some guests from universities in the Republic of Ireland. Conditions were less than perfect with a two downpours just before kick off, however the rain held off for the arrow firing, the weather fluctuating between sun, cloud and breeze.

Edinburgh made it the perfect 10, winning BUSA Outdoors for the tenth consecutive year with a score of 3488. This completes Edinburgh's sixth BUSA double. For only the second ever time however, Edinburgh's team comprised four ladies, Becky Gridley (878), Emma Downie (874) and novices Jenny Jeppsson (874) and Jo Lymboussis (862). Hosts London also benefited from the slightly more sheltered and nearer ladies line as they finished second on 3253, team comprising Leo Lang (835), Mati Lang (833), Veronica Bray (832) and Dominic Rebelo (753). Cambridge and Imperial College jostled all day for bronze, James Keogh eventually inspiring the BUTTS champions ahead, team comprising James Keogh (853), Ian Caulfield (822) Pamela Custance-Baker (794), Tim Northover (737), team score 3206. Imperial had to be content with fourth, but good performances from their team of David Wilson (826), Eloise Fowler (822) Angela Ko (743) and Gavin Simmons (728), team score 3119, kept them well clear of York in fifth. York were the team to struggle most from a lack of female Windsor scores on a day when they were crucial, falling six points short of the 3000 mark. York's side of Tom Duncan (844), Andrew Ash (739), Michael Ward (727), James Wickens (684) beaten in university competition only once before this season, NEUAL and BUTC winners, were well off the pace. Oxford were sixth, 150 points further back on 2842, the dark blues nudging, Bradford into seventh on 2834 and Exeter into eighth on 2822. Liverpool were ninth with 2763, well clear of Brunel who made up the top ten with 2763.

The novice (or Shield, if you are BUSA) team category gave Edinburgh's exceptional novice vintage to sign off with a flourish. A team score of 2540 put them so far clear of their nearest rivals, the real competition was amongst themselves. Jenny Jeppsson (874) broke the BUSA and All Unis individual ladies novice record, and combined with Jo Lymboussis (862) and Naomi Crouch (804) broke both the BUSA and the All Unis novice team record. Best of the rest Imperial did what their seniors just failed to do and ousted Cambridge. SEAL novice team champions, Imperial notched 1878 comprised Damien Loizeau (674) Joe Tricklebank (607) and Mark Wheelhouse (597). Cambridge novices were third with 1856, Matthew Johnson (653), Jochen Smolka (603) and Alexandra Griffiths (600). They pushed BUTTS novice team champions Birmingham into fourth, further back on 1693. Exeter made up the top five with 1157.

Andrew Callaway (Bournemouth), fresh from his call up to the World Student Games, won gents experienced recurve, in the end comfortably, with 898 ahead of the 1998 Champion James Keogh (Cambridge) 853 and Tim Mundon (Edinburgh) 850. Callaway emerged fairly quickly out of the leading pack and applied more and more pressure until a very tidy last distance gave him a 45 point cushion - a record for this competition format. The highest recurve score of the day, it showed what was possible even in the variable breeze. Despite missing early on, a late charge from James Keogh was enough for second place ahead of last year's winner Tim Mundon, who despite an individual medal did not make the Edinburgh senior team. A group of five followed the medal winners, led by Tom Duncan (York) with 844 who led after the first dozen. Other names discussed as potential winners were Jon Paradi (Brunel) fifth on 838 and Matt Nowicki (Edinburgh) another Edinburgh gent not to make the team, sixth on 834. The leading pack was completed by the 1999 champion David Wilson (Imperial) 826 and Ian Caulfield (Cambridge) on 822. Forty points further adrift Barry Cottrell (Surrey) 783 and Dave Herbert (Liverpool) 766 were ninth and tenth respectively.

In the ladies recurve, despite an deluge of Edinburgh scores, Marietta Scott (Manchester) shot consistently well to build on her record in this competition (3rd in 2001, 2nd in 2002 and 2003) to go one better to win with 892 and complete the personal BUSA double. Naomi Faulkner (Leeds Met.) was second with 886. Becky Gridley (Edinburgh) picked up individual bronze with 878 and along with James Keogh the only senior to win team and individual medals. Incidentally, twelve months ago, she picked up exactly the same combination of novice medals. Novice Jenny Jeppsson (Edinburgh) finished fourth lady overall on 874, beating Emma Downie (Edinburgh) on golds 66 to 63, Downie fourth in BUSA Championship (as opposed to Shield) standings. Novice Jo Lymboussis (Edinburgh) beat Claire Brockett (Bradford) to sixth place 63 golds to 61 after the pair finished on 862, Brockett 5th in Championship standings. After the Edinburgh deluge came the London deluge, as 8th through 10th overall (6th to 8th in Championship) of Leo Lang (835), Mati Lang (833) and Veronica Bray (832), all London. Sinead Cuthbert (Dublin IT) 826, 11th overall and Marie Cuthbert (Dublin City) 814, 13th overall sandwiched Eloise Fowler (Imperial) who was 12th overall (9th in Championship). Karen Atkins (Bath) finished 14th overall (10th in Championship) with 806, two points ahead of novice Naomi Crouch (Edinburgh) on 804, the last of the 15 ladies to break 800.

As for the individual novice competition, Stuart Horswell (Edinburgh) matched his BUSA Indoor novice triumph, here scoring 744, only to not make Edinburgh's novice team in a cameo version of Edinburgh's senior male archers. Leading the chasing pack in second place was Liam Craddock (Liverpool) on 683 ahead of Damian Loizeau (Imperial) on 674 who pipped James Suckling (Exeter) to the bronze by only two points. Matthew Johnson (Cambridge) was fifth on 653 ahead of guest Gavin Dunne (Carlow IT) on 645. As discussed, ladies novice recurve was very much the Edinburgh Show. Not content with the Jeppsson/Lymboussis/Crouch top three, Kirsten Hunter (Edinburgh) was fourth with 717. Birmingham duo Genni Thompson fifth on 639 and Deborah Seymour seventh on 592 were split by Alexandra Griffiths (Cambridge) on a round 600.

The compound divisions proved two of the tightest finishes ever seen in this discipline. In the gents, despite at one point accruing a considerable lead, 2003 champion Alistiar Whittingham (Edinburgh) was beaten 85 golds to 83 by Chris Millar (Edinburgh). Millar is the new Edinburgh captain and must have been delighted with the start to his year, both personally and for the club. Keith Langmead shooting as a guest was third overall on 862. In the Championship however Malcolm Rees (Swansea) picked up third with 796 after a miss from John Bengtsson (Edinburgh) fourth on 792 denied Edinburgh a 1-2-3. In an echo of the SUSF Outdoor Champs, in ladies compound Hannah Walton (Edinburgh) beat Claudine Jennings (Edinburgh) by a single point, 868 to 867 after a miss from the latter. Gemma Breese (Bradford College) was third on 854.

In barebow and longbow (divisions that BUSA does not differentiate from recurve) there were a few souls who braved the winds. There were two gents barebows, both novices and Michael Disley (Bangor) came out on top with 206. There were two ladies barebows, both senior and 2003 champion Kelly Burns (Bangor) won again with 319. The size of the longbow field trebled (from one to three) - all three experienced gents. Geoff Woods (Brunel) cruised home after a good middle distance with 86 to almost double the existing BUSA record [corr.].

Inter-regional and inter-home national results were also generated. SUSF (or Edinburgh as no other Scottish clubs attended) were first team of Becky Gridley, Emma Downie, Jenny Jeppsson, Jo Lymboussis (all Edinburgh) on 3488. SEAL were second on 3338 team of Jon Paradi (Brunel) Leo Lang, Mati Lang, Veronica Bray (all London). BUTTS were third on 3253 ahead of NEUAL by only three points. SWWU fifth on 2966. Scotland (or Edinburgh as no other Scottish clubs attended) were not quite enough to down a combined English Unis team however. English Unis recorded a score of 3538, team including individual champions Andrew Callaway (Bournemouth) and Marietta Scott (Manchester) as well as Naomi Faulkner (Leeds Met) and Claire Brockett (Bradford). Scotland/SUSF/Edinburgh as before. Guests Ireland reduced to only four archers after non-travellers and injuries still managed third on 2823, team of Sinead Cuthbert (Dublin IT), Marie Cuthbert (Dublin City), novice Gavin Dunne (Carlow IT) and Dermot Madden (NUI Maynooth). Welsh Unis were fourth on 1773, team of Sarah Kerr, Ian Golightly (both Bangor), Katharina Baier (Swansea) and Owen Pleasance (Bangor).

Thanks to all those who pitched in to help organise and run this tournament including the ACME team numerically back to full strength. Remarkably this included Paul Williamson visiting from Azerbaijan, as well as the usual band of hired help, ULU for acting as hosts and Lilleshall for "letting" us burn their field.

Merry Month of May [01/Jun/04]

Before we go any further, yes I do appreciate the slight oddity of the title/date combo. The pre-exams part of the Outdoor season has produced few surprises, but as ever it is refreshing to see how many university clubs continue to be active outdoors.

At SUSF there was an alarmingly straightforward victory for the second consecutive year for Edinburgh at SUSF Outdoors. Five of the top eight gents recurve and the entire top five ladies recurve were all Edinburgh. In fact Edinburgh supplied nearly half the field (18 out of 39) when SUSF contains seven universities. St. Andrews didn't attend at all and the other five fielded only six novices between them. Meanwhile Edinburgh's novice team of Jo Lymboussis (first lady overall), Jenny Jeppsson and Naomi Crouch smashed the novice team outdoor record for Albion/Windsor with 2456, Lymboussis equalling the All Unis record for novice ladies recurve Windsor.

David Lange was second [corr.] behind Matt Nowicki in Gents Recurve in what is becoming an impressive season for him. Lange also picked up the award for top archer in SUSF League. Brian Marr and Helen Scott were the highest place non-Edinburgh archers, ensuring RGU beat Heriot-Watt into third - Watt missed Lorna Provan badly. Edinburgh supplied six of the eight componds on show and Alistair Whittingham won the gents division easily, whilst Hannah Walton took advantage of Claudine Jennings recording 3 misses to win by a solitary point.

Further south, NEUAL champions York added the Outdoor Championships with a dominant display by Tom Duncan, finishing an astonishing 80 points clear of clubmates Andrew Ash, James Wickens and recurving Michael Ward who made up the top four gents. Maia Lucas (Durham) left the ladies field trailing by an unbelievable 150 points, but it wasn't quite enough to stop Lancaster from finishing second 30 points ahead of Durham. York picked up the novice team ahead of Bradford second.

Cambridge reclaimed the BUTTS title from their oldest rivals with James Keogh (like Duncan, surely amongst the BUSA individual favourites) yet again in commanding form. They won the last BUTTS leg at home. BUTC bronze medallists Warwick finished second in the leg but needed an unlikely series of events to remove Loughborough from second place in the table. Birmingham rallied with a fourth place but still finished last overall - the Brummie novices however won for the second time in the BUTTS season to easily take the novice team championship. [addition] Cambridge also won the Varsity Match and with a score in excess of 3400. James Keogh and Pamela Custance-Baker took the individual honours.

Bath are SWWU champions for 2003/2004, a result which looked decidedly unlikely as Southampton raced away with the first two legs. Southampton however didn't field any archers in the third leg and only one in the finale and were pipped on aggregate by Exeter to second. Bath in fact won both of the last two legs. As for SWWU Novices, champions were Bath, featuring a Stuart Barclay in one of their legs. I'm still not quite sure that isn't a wind up. Anyway, Exeter's novices won the final leg to secure themselves second place behind Bath who were second in the final match, despite another good score from Paul Ylioja, who has featured in ALL Bath's SWWU teams Experienced and Novice.

Surrey SEAL victory [09/Apr/04]

Needing to win their final match with 2049 or more Surrey cruised home 2137-2011 over Brunel. The win leaves Surrey and Imperial and London all on ten points but Surrey have the better aggregate 8447 ahead of Imperial's 8358. These performances mark out the consistant scoring of the Guildford based club as they alone kept their average over 2100

All three clubs recorded one victory over an other (London beat Imperial who beat Surrey who beat London), but perhaps the crucial turning point in the league came at the end of January when London were unable to raise a full team against Surrey and surrendered not only three points but a massive aggregate total. Indeed had London lost the match with a score of 1970 or more they and not Surrey would have been champions.

Imperial's chances faded with derby defeat to London in February although as a consolation Imperial's novices walked away with the novice title with four wins from four. The only league game remaining is Brunel against Sussex.

Students' show of strength at British Champs [28/Mar/04]

Congratulations to all those who excelled at the British Champs. Full results are up on GNAS site, and there is a brief article on the BBC site. In fact there have now been one or two articles about archery on the BBC Sport website, under the Olympics 2004 subsection.

Edinburgh University (team comprising Tim Mundon, Claudine Jennings, Matt Nowicki and Becky Gridley) won the senior team trophy to cap an excellent season for the club. York were fourth team. Also, Marietta Scott (Manchester, shooting for North Cheshire Bowmen) was part of the English winning Home Nations team. Tim Mundon, Lorna Provan (Heriot-Watt) and Claudine Jennings were part of Scottish Eastern Area team that won the "county" trophy.

Individually 10 university recurves and 5 compounds qualified for the last 32 knock-out phase. In gents recurve, Tim Mundon (Edinburgh) finished 3rd with 570 (on a FITA 18), Andrew Callaway (Bournemouth, shooting for Bournemouth AC) 9th, Grant Womack (York) 13th, James Keogh (Cambridge) 16th and Tom Duncan (York) 25th. Ladies recurve Naomi Folkard (Birmingham, shooting for Dunlop AC) was 1st with 568, Lorna Provan (Heriot-Watt) 2nd, Marietta Scott (Manchester, shooting for North Cheshire Bowmen) 9th, Claudine Jennings (Edinburgh) 11th and Becky Gridley (Edinburgh) 24th. Uni ladies compound archers making the cut were Claudine Jennings (Edinburgh) 4th and Hannah Walton (Edinburgh) 19th. Gents compound qualifiers were Chris Millar (Edinburgh) 21st=, Michael Ward (York) 26th and Alistair Whittingham (Edinburgh) 30th.

In the knock-outs themselves, Marietta Scott beat Becky Gridley in Round 1, won her Round 2 match against Yvonne Oakshott, before losing to Naomi Folkard in the quarters. Claudine Jennings route to the semi-final inluded a fine win over world no 57 Helen Palmer. Lorna Provan also made it to the semis, meaning three of the last four ladies recurves were students. Folkard won her match and Jennings overcame Provan, Folkard going on to win the final. As for the gents recurves Grant Womack, Tom Duncan and James Keogh were first round casualties. Andrew Callaway went out in round 2 despite scoring 172, but Tim Mundon shot his way to the semi-finals before eventually going out to Paul Limb and losing the bronze medal play-off to top qualifier Alan Wills. In ladies compound, Hannah Walton lost in round 1 and Claudine Jennings was narrowly unable to recreate her heroics with a compound going out in a shoot off in round 2. All three gents compounds had first round exits, although both Chris Millar and Michael Ward lost by a solitary point and Alistair Whittingham was within three of bronze medal winner Jon Mynott.

Edinburgh wrap up SUSF in style [18/Mar/04]

Edinburgh produced two excellent performances over the last two weekends to claim the SUSF League and Indoor Championship titles. They gained maximum points from a trip across the city to Heriot-Watt to claim the SUSF League title with 2210, top scorer novice Stuart Horswell, with 560, breaking his own SUSF and All Unis records. A revived Heriot-Watt were second, powered by Lorna Provan's 571. St Andrews were third, picking up the league wooden spoon.

The following weekend, on home turf, Edinburgh successfully defended the SUSF Indoor Championships. They recorded a SUSF score (which excluded Tim Mundon's 582, Claudine Jennings' 575 and Matt Nowicki's 565) of 2242 with a team of seniors Martin Russell (583), David Lange (552) and novices Stuart Horswell (555) and Jo Lymboussis (552 - an All Unis record). Despite not breaking the SUSF record, Edinburgh broke the All Unis records for senior team of four Portsmouth with breaking through the 2300 barrier with 2305, beating the record of 2282 set seven years ago in this very competition. Heriot-Watt were second on 2141 (team comprising Lorna Provan 570, Marek Zenka 532, Peter Long 527, Vincent Jones 518, RGU were third whilst BUTC winners York were guests and managed 2201 without Andrew Ash.

Individually Martin Russell beat Tim Mundon by a single point 583 to 582, Matt Nowicki third on 565. Brian Marr (RGU) was fourth on 557. In the ladies Claudine Jennings beat Lorna Provan 575 to 570. Novice Jo Lymboussis was third on 552, followed by Becky Gridley on 537. Stuart Horswell won novice gents with 555 from Marek Zenka (HW) 532 and Jonas De-Age (RGU) 511. In the ladies Jo Lymboussis 552 was clear of clubmates Jenny Jeppsson 520 and Naomi Crouch 518. The novice team score of 1627 is yet another All Unis record.

The indoor season is more or less finished and Edinburgh look formidable once again. With their record of one defeat in ten years outdoors, more records look vulnerable at Strathclyde on 8th May [corr. 1st May] and at Lilleshall on 19th June.

BUTC 2004 review. [09/Mar/04]

York A (Andrew Ash, Tom Duncan and James Wickens) won the second British University Team Championships, beating Edinburgh A (Tim Mundon, Matt Nowicki and David Lange) in a thrilling final. Warwick A (Tom Kemp, Charles Manvilleand Jon Shaw) were third, pipping Edinburgh B in a similarly exciting bronze medal play-off. In all BUTC served up some genuinely exciting archery, more than making up in drama what it lost from a lower turnout than last year.

The qualification round lead seemed to change hands every half-dozen arrows. Gradually however, York A asserted a degree of control over Edinburgh B, Warwick and Loughborough, all of whom threatened, before right at the death, Edinburgh A stole in with a one point lead over York A 789 to 788. Edinburgh B were third fifteen points adrift, with surprise packages Warwick A fourth another nine points down on 762. Imperial A led the chasing pack in fifth on 739, but were closely pursued by Liverpool A on 738 and Loughborough on 736. Durham A rounded off the top eight on 711. With only 20 teams competing, the top 12 were all assured of first round byes and Bradford A, Imperial B, Birmingham A and Nottingham A (positions 9 to 12 in qualifying all avoided the Round 1.

Individually Tim Mundon (Edinburgh A) broke the record for Gents qualifying BUTC with 282. Andrew Ash (York A) was second with 279, Martin Russell (Edinburgh B) third with 278. Tom Kemp (Warwick A) was fourth with 277 and the top four gents mirrored exactly the position of the top four teams. In a small ladies field Eloise Fowler (Imperial B) was first with 236. Cat Lamin (Birmingham A) was second on 223 ahead of Catherine Lowden (Durham B) on 218. Leading novices were Stuart Horswell (Edinburgh B) on 244 and Serena Battista (Leeds) on 205, both of whom narrowly missed out on records.

Round 1 itself had only four matches, including Bradford v Durham part 1, in which Bradford�s second string overcame their Durham counterparts. Birmingham B upset the higher ranked Nottingham B beating them 188-178. The biggest upset involving a Nottingham side was still to come. York B came through round 1 safely against Leeds whilst Warwick B overcame Liverpool B to face Edinburgh B.

In round 2, Imperial A, the fifth seeds and one of the pre-tournament favourites were dumped out of the competition (or �slapped upside their heads�) 209-207 to Nottingham A, ranked seven places (and 62 points) behind them. Imperial A suffered a miss and a one and were made to pay dearly for these mistakes. Nottingham�s reward was a quarter-final against form side Warwick A who ended hosts York�s B team hopes with a solid performance 219-199. Imperial B also fell to the increasingly impressive Liverpool A 229-205, ending the Jedi bowmen�s interest before the last 8. There was also double disappointment for Bradford and Birmingham in round 2. Birmingham A and B could have set up a quarter final meeting, but both lost, Birmingham B to York A and Birmingham A to Loughborough. Both Edinburgh sides progressed easily, Edinburgh A knocking out Bradford B and Edinburgh B, posting the competition's highest score so far with 238, brushed past Warwick B. Durham A gained revenge on behalf of their B team by beating Bradford A.

In the quarter finals nerves got the better of Durham A who suffered a collapse against Edinburgh A, themselves scoring 239, the highest of the competition thus far. Durham had fired 10 golds in their last 16 victory over Bradford A. In this match that figure dropped to 3. The �Edinburgh effect� also got a (lighter) grip of Liverpool A who slipped to an 18 point defeat against Edinburgh B with a few early loose shots. Warwick A took full advantage of Imperial A�s slip up against Nottingham A beating their fellow Midlanders 221-213 in the closest of the quarter-finals. York A beat Loughborough A in the highest scoring quarter-final. Loughborough A�s 226 was twelve points short of the hosts, who earned themselves a fascinating semi-final against Edinburgh B, whom they out-qualified.

The hall was cleared to leave only two bosses and the first semi-final up was Edinburgh A against Warwick A who had already gone past their target of the quarter finals. Some disciplined shooting by Edinburgh A saw them score 242, again the highest total to date in the competition and it was enough to hold off the spirited Warwick A challenge. The second semi-final got off to a dramatic start when Edinburgh B had an equipment failure and did not shoot two arrows, immediately going 25 points down. With only 18 arrows to catch up, with one archer using a different bow, Edinburgh B continued to falter and although York A faltered a little too, the pressure was off and they ultimately increased their lead, winning 232-195.

The bronze medal match looked like it was over after Warwick A missed early against Edinburgh B, but they emerged only two points down with the final pass to go. Having led the qualifying at one point, Warwick A produced one last effort and overtook the rattled Edinburgh B � a result which remained in doubt until the arrows had been finally added up, final score 226-223, much to the loud approval of Warwick A�s (by now) large support. These bronze medals were the result of a tremendous effort from Warwick A and it was clear how much the results meant to the team and club.

BUTC 2004 final was the hosts against the defending champions - the top two qualifiers. Only 12 of the 54 arrows shot in the final were outside the yellow as York A and Edinburgh A shot the highest two scores of the day in the last match. York A led after the first pass 85 to 82, but a six in the second pass allowed Edinburgh A to retake the lead 164 to 162. In the last pass a four from Edinburgh A inamongst the tens gave York A the advantage and they shot brilliantly under the intense pressure to win by 246-243, to much applause. Both teams, and the match as a whole were shot in a great spirit and were a wonderful advert for student archery.

This is one of the most exciting tournaments I can remember, from Nottingham A�s early besting of Imperial A, the successes of Liverpool A reaching the quarter finals on their first appearance, the people�s champions Warwick A (will they have stopped smiling by now?), the dramatic second semi-final or the nail-biting medal matches, the teams that didn�t attend fairly missed a treat. Thanks to everyone who helped run the thing including a depleted ACME, Sai �Keith� Khunpha, Claire Hitchen, Vickie Hinchcliffe, Alan Stiles, all at York Uni AC, Tim Mundon�s database and of course the omnipresent Michael Ward. As I understand it, York are not bidding to host BUSA Outdoors (that is if Michael wants to live). Thank you also to the commentary team Dave Sewell and Chris Burnett, who added so much to the flavour of the event. There was a lot of genuine research which went into the commentary, but perhaps there was a key decision made at lunchtime which gave us moments such as �Dave� (sung to the tune Shaft) and the total destruction of Bohemian Rhapsody. Who will be able to take the phrase �touch of fruit� seriously, ever again?

Quarter Finals

Edinburgh A (1) beat Durham A (8)
Warwick A (4) beat Nottingham A (12)
Edinburgh B (3) beat Liverpool A (6)
York A (2) beat Loughborough (7)

Semi Finals

Edinburgh A beat Warwick A
York A beat Edinburgh B

Third/Fourth place play-off

Warwick A beat Edinburgh B

Final

York A beat Edinburgh A

Archery on the BBC [02/Mar/04]

Archery is accustomed to painfully little media coverage. However recently there has been a little ray of light on the BBC sport site. Thanks to Ian Caulfield (Cambridge) for spotting these.

Having received 11 Oscars, Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King has sparked an increase in take up of archery in a way not seen since Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (with Kevin Costner and that song) in 1991. Archery hits the bullseye discusses this and quotes a few positive looking numbers. Is Legolas really responsible for BUSA Indoors 2004 mammoth entry?

Looking further ahead, past Athens, past Beijing to the possible archery venues for the 2012 Olympics. London is bidding and London 2012 venue: Archery highlights Lords cricket ground as a possible venue, should London win the Olympics in that year.

York win NEUAL to sound BUTC warning to rivals. [25/Feb/04]

York won the indoor NEUAL champs in York for the second year running. Their total of 2233 saw them finish nearly 100 points clear of Lancaster in second with 2139. Liverpool, the other NEUAL newbies picked up bronze medals with 2074. In the novice team division, Durham showed why they picked up bronze at BUSA with a comfortable win holding off Lancaster who were second and York third.

York's triumph was built around Andrew Ash with 575 and Tom Duncan 570. Chris Gill from Sunderland was third with 568. Liverpool's Dave Herbert picked up his second bronze of the day with 566, whilst York gents Dan Parnham and James Wickens placed 4th and 5th. With BUTC consisting of teams of three, York seem to have a formidable team coming together at just the right time. Can this coupled with a home crowd see them further than the quarter-finals they reached last year. Can it carry them past the increasingly impressive Imperial. Can it carry them past the defending champions Edinburgh, who again gave a demonstration of squad strength on Saturday, closing in with seeming inevitability to yet another SUSF league title.

Jenny Wise of Lancaster scooped ladies recurve gold with 546 ahead of Durham's Maia Lucas (533) and Alicia Kern of Lancaster (527). As for the novices, in the gents Ben Tucker (Lancaster) beat Liam Craddock (Liverpool) 529 to 528. Ian Rutter (Durham) was third with 501. Ladies novice went to Emma Watson (York) 483, followed by Durham pair Anna Breitbart 467 and Eleanor Clark 466.

Regional round up. [19/Feb/04]

February is normally the single busiest month in the univeristy archery calendar. With BUSA shot comparatively early (and breaking all attedance records again), there was not as much form to go on. Now all of the universities have been in action a clearer picture of the season is taking shape.

Edinburgh have been handing out big beatings to all and sundry - they were 65 points clear at BUSA. Edinburgh's grip is slightly artificial given the unusual concentration of postgraduate archers many of whom graduate this year. Aberdeen lead the SUSF table, but they will be overtaken by whoever wins Saturday's encounter between hosts Edinburgh, unbeaten Robert Gordon's and Strathclyde.

Further south, York sit top the NEUAL table with only the Indoor Champs remaining, also on Saturday. Relatively speaking the surprise packages of NEUAL have been the other Roses university, Lancaster. The ability to pull out the scores when required saw them beat both Durham and Bradford by only 13 points each.

Having missed out in cruel circumstances in Leeds, Cambridge broke through the 2200 barrier one week too late in the third BUTTS leg. Having won the opening three legs and already four points clear, Cambridge appear strong favuorites. BUTTS is such a competitive league however, that one bad performance could really shake things up - Loughborough's home leg is on Saturday.

In SEAL, things really are too close to call, and there are a number of matches still to be played. The situation will be clearer after the re-arranged London derby - Imperial are currently top, but both ULU and Surrey could easily topple them.

SWWU welcomed back erstwhile members Plymouth, back from the grave. Accepting a zero for the first match they have been fitted in to boost the league to five teams again. Southampton have had the best of things so far, but Exeter remain on their tail.

BUSA Indoor 2004 review. [13/Feb/04]

The largest British university competition ever (see last year :�)) was held at Leeds Univeristy on Saturday 7th February 2004. 345 archers (87% of the total entered) competed over three sessions in two neighbouring halls - the competition was co-hosted by York and Leeds Uni ACs with ACME helping on the day.

Edinburgh were run away winners with a magnificent total of 2261, with a team comprising Tim Mundon (583), Martin Russell (561), Claudine Jennings (561) and novice Stuart Horswell (556). The fight for second was very closely contested indeed, with Cambridge, Imperial, London and York all within a handful of points. Hosts York eventually came out in second place, just missing out on 2200 by 3 points with a team of Tom Duncan (574), Andrew Ash (555), Dan Parnham (536) and James Wickens (532). Imperial picked up third on 2191 with Sebastian Tsakok (570), David Wilson (562), Paul Stark (536) and Eloise Fowler (523), three points better than Cambridge's 2188 shot with James Keogh (563), Clare Hooley (560), Ian Caulfield (535) and Pamela Custance-Baker (530). ULU finished only four further points behind on 2184 their team comprising Mati Lang (554), Leo Lang (553), Dominic Rebelo (551) and Veronica Bray (526). Loughborough were comfortably sixth with 2170, then came Oxford's 2099, Warwick on 2095. Lancaster and Southampton finished ninth and tenth in a field which had twenty-three complete teams of four.

Gents recurve saw Tim Mundon (Edinburgh) successfully defend his title, the first time this has been done in recent times - his 583 gaining him entry to the exlcusive "580 club" at the third attempt after scoring 579 in both 2003 and 1996. Jon Paradi (Brunel) with 579 was relatively isolated in second. Third placed gents recurve went down to 9s before Peter Walker (Anglia Poly. Uni.) beat Tom Duncan (York) by the narrowest of margins, after Duncan had easily won the morning session. Both archers scored 574. Sebastian Tsakok (Imperial) made exactly 570, whilst Andrew Callaway (Bournemouth) held off Andy Tan (Exeter) 567 to 566 for sixth. Nines were required to separate James Keogh (Cambridge) and Vince Tse (Southampton) afer the pair tied on 563. Dave Herbert (Liverpool) was tenth on 562, two golds ahead of David Wilson (Imperial), one point ahead of Martin Russell (Edinburgh) who rounded off the top dozen of the 136 gents recurves.

In the ladies Marietta Scott (Manchester) added a gold individual medal to her considerable tally with 574, blowing away the competition by fully thirteen points. Second place was fierce contested, with Lorna Provan (Heriot-Watt) pipping Claudine Jennings (Edinburgh) 28 golds to 27 on 561. Pamela Custance-Baker (Cambridge) a point behind the SUSF pair on 560. Lisa Crumpling's (Loughborough) 555 kept her sixth ahead of the sibling battle for seventh. Mati Lang (ULU) 554 finding that one extra point to beat Leo Lang (ULU) 553.

Edinburgh's novice team demolished a) everyone else, b) all relevant team records and c) all relevant individual records. With a team score of 1625 comprising Stuart Horswell (556), Jenny Jeppsson (544) and Jo Lymboussis (525) , they were exactly150 points clear of Imperial 1475, team comprising Damian Loizeau (514), Mark Wheelhouse (489) and Joe Tricklebank (472). Durham's novices were third with a team of Anna Breitbart (494), Steven Brewer (486) and Ian Rutter (478), giving combined score of 1458. Plymouth were the only other university to break 1400 in a field of nineteen complete novice teams.

Stuart Horswell's (Edinburgh) led home the gent's "Shield" competitors with a record smashing 556, leaving the rest of the field trailing 40 points in his wake. Horswell would have placed 13th gent overall and becomes only the second novice to claim a senior BUSA team winner's medal (and the first at the Indoors) in recent times [corr.]. His place on the team meant no team medals for the massively experienced Edinburgh trio of Alistair Whittingham, Matt Nowicki and Glyn Ball. Damien Loizeau (Imperial) was second with 514, Marek Zenka (Heriot-Watt) third with 509, a point ahead of Ben Tucker (Lancaster). Liam Craddock (Liverpool) was fifth, falling just short of the magic 500. Then followed Paul Ylioja (Bath) 493, Matthew Johnson (Cambridge) 492 in sixth and seventh breaking 490.

The ladies novice division was dominated by clubmates Jenny Jeppsson and Jo Lymboussis (both Edinburgh) with 544 and 525, Jeppsson's 544 would have placed her 8th lady recurve overall and breaks all relevant records. Perhaps almost as remarkable the performance of Vassiliki Karzi (Southampton) who could have broken the Edinburgh stranglehold, but whose 495 featured 5 misses to counteract her 25 golds. Behind the top three came in fourth, Anna Breitbart (Durham) 494, fifth Amy Simpson (Loughborough) 484 and sixth Naomi Crouch (Edinburgh) 481.

In the compound division, Alistair Whittingham (Edinburgh) enjoyed better fortune, winning with 586 from Matt Price's (Nottingham Trent) 573. Jack Pearson (West of England) beat Chris Millar (Edinburgh) to fourth 60 hits to 59, both having recorded 561. Alex Nolan (Warwick) 555 and Michael Ward (York) 553 led the chasing pack. In the ladies compound Gemma Breese (Bradford College)'s 561 was enough to see off Hannah Walton (Edinburgh) 556 and Marianne Tennoe (Edinurgh) 552.

More details about the unrecognised-by-BUSA categories will follow shortly. Alistair Wilson (UW Bangor) again won gents barebow with 527, George Dimitriadis (Leeds) and Michaelo Martinicca (Leeds) providing some cheer for the home fans in second and third. Ladies barebow - details to follow. Gents longbow details to follow. Ladies longbow solo competitor, Kate Todd (York) thashed all the gents recording 60 hits on her way to 410.

York get BUTC [07/Jan/04]

Congratulations to York on winning the right to host BUTC 2004 and comiserations to Loughborough who missed out this time. Both universities received feedback on their bids. I'm pleased to see BUTC generating a lot of discussion on the "boards". ACME are the tournament organisers and the UKSAA are the "governing body" which gives me some sort of authority to speak on this issue. We have tried to keep the whole process as open as possible and unlike for the BUSA Championships you can see who is making decisions at every stage. A BUTC mini site will appear as soon as possible.

BUTC was the idea of Tim Mundon, at the time captain of Edinburgh. He envisaged a team rather than individual based competition, one following FITA rules rather than GNAS and one where university archers got some experience, however limited, of knock-out competition. It was intended to pit the best archers from each club against each other. As such it does exclude some archers, but this is a necessary element of the team competition. The five regional leagues and the BUSA Championships cater for all standards, including separate novice events. BUTC is an opportunity for a significant proprotion of archers to experience a different type of shooting - even if it was from the spectators' gallery. There is no competitive round in the world than can cope with the range of ability thrown at it by university archers. Some are hitting upwards of 45 golds, others would like upwards of 45 hits and I defy anyone to come up with a single tournament which is ideal for all.

The BUTC 2003 semi-finalists Edinburgh A, Edinburgh B, Imperial A, Imperial B wasn't as diverse a list as it might have been, but if BUTC was too predictable then perhaps it merely reflected the relative strength of the university clubs last year. Don't forget that at both BUSA Indoors and Outdoors 2003, Edinburgh, Imperial, York finished 1-2-3 and there were no issues with those competitions. There's something satisfying about having a gold medal match at the end of the day too. Quite TV friendly.

The issue of B (or even C and onwards) teams was discussed at length when the competition format was being decided. It was decided that both in terms of space and competitiveness a maximum of two teams per university should be allowed and a maximum of 32 teams was in place last year - in fact only 28 teams were there. As for not taking a B-team because "they're bound to lose", B teams from York, Imperial, Cambridge, Dundee and Edinburgh all progressed beyond round 1 last year. It is also wrong to argue that not enough people get to take part in BUTC and then voluntarily not bring an extra three archers into the competition. If a B team meets their own A team in the knockout phase, the B team will probably lose - that is unless the club's selection is wrong.

As for the old fun/competitive shooting chestnut, this one is easy. Quite simply you can have your cake and eat it - the competition requires organising, the fun does not. All the feedback I got from last year was positive and there were two bids to host a competition where the host club accepts all the financial risk. Good luck to all the teams in March, and bring as many people as you can to cheer you on.

BUSA taxing teams. 01/Dec/03

The application form for BUSA Indoor Championships 2004 is now available from BUSA Indoor section, as well as from NEUAL site. Chief organiser is Michael Ward (York), available on mw116@york.ac.uk. The tournament will take place on Saturday 7th February next year, with the closing date for entries Thursday 8th January. It will take place in Leeds and be hosted jointly by York and Leeds Uni ACs. Entry fees are �11 per archer (double if shooting two disciplines) and �11 per team entered by a university (i.e. �11 each for senior and novice team). Should demand for places exceed the number available, a waiting list system will be introduced. Substitutions on the day [corr.] will not be allowed. A point to note - if only the number of people who attended BUSA Indoors 2003 had entered, a third hall would not have been required and no end of hassle, before and during the event, would have been avoided. If you enter - turn up!

Those are the facts - now some analysis. Charging a separate and extra �11 entry fee for teams is an unprecedented step. It seems like a purely money-making manoevure from a sport which is already (it is estimated) yields a healthy profit for BUSA HQ. Worse still the step seems to have been taken without either the knowledge or the agreement of the SMG. Whilst boycotting the championships is not a serious consideration, you do wonder how BUSA justify such a increase. Last year at BUSA Indoors there were 22 full senior teams and 19 full novice teams. If there is a similar entry this year, this "team tax" will generate nearly �450 extra. As there is no compound team prize, one assumes any university fielding three compounds will not be charged a further �11.

What if the winning team refuses to pay the extra on principle? Charging by the team as well as by the individual makes even less sense when you consider the existence of BUTC. A decision on who will host the British University archery Team Championships will be made by Friday 12th December, at the latest - hopefully earlier - and will be announced on this website.

Cambridge and Southampton win. 26/Nov/03

Cambridge became the first team this season to go over the 2200 barrier. Fired by James Keogh's excellent 575, the light blues were over 50 points clear of Loughborough. Warwick made a solid start in third, but surprisingly hosts and defending champions Oxford, who scored 2083 finished fifth - in stark contrast to their 4 leg victories last season. 2083 was exactly the same score as won the first BUTTS leg for Oxford last season. A unique feature of BUTTS is that at the end of the season is that all teams can discard their lowest league points finish. Oxford will now be looking to recapture the form that saw them finish 4th team at BUSA Indoor last year.

The overall standard of BUTTS looks high, particularly when you consider Birmingham finished last by a distance with 1957 and Heriot-Watt won their SUSF league game with 1900. Southampton got off to the perfect start in SWWU cruising in ahead of hosts Exeter. Exeter's novices made sure the home side did have something to celebrate. Both the SWWU and BUTTS calendars are still to be finalised.

Sullivan to quit as SUSF NSC. 14/Nov/03

John Sullivan has announced that he will quit his post as SUSF Non-Student Co-ordinator from the end of this season. His last tournament in charge will be SUSF Outdoor Champs currently scheduled for 8th May at Strathclyde. John made the announcement at a Captains' meeting at the SUSF Novice Training held Edinburgh on 11th Novmeber. The decision will bring to an end service for SUSF, going back to 1994 - a time when SUSF was the only regional league. In the revolving door world of student archery, 10 years in one post is quite remarkable.

I spoke to John and he said he has decided to go at the end of the season because his other archery commitments are taking up too much time. He is intending upgrading to a Regional Judge, in the process of upgrading to County Coach, and is starting to shoot compound. It means that he will be able to give a bit more time to the BUSA position, mixing with and gauging the opinions of students. His decision to make his departure public so early allows time for a successor allows other candidates time to assess properly whether or not they want the job.

Capital start for SEAL as York excel 11/Nov/03

The first ever South East University Archery League matches took place this weekend as Surry hosted Imperial and Sussex hosted ULU. ULU recorded a fairly comfortable win on the South Coast breaking 2100 easily. In the other match Imperial and Surrey fought out an close match, Imperial squeezing out an 8 point win 2116 to 2108 - matching ULU's score exactly. With the top scores so closely balanced SEAL promises a very close finish come March. It is excellent that three universities exceded 2100 this early in the season.

The preformance of the weekend came from York who knocked over Durham with a score of 2186 including a notable 568 from Tom Duncan. York finished behind Edinburgh and Imperial in all national competitions last year, but outscored Imperial by 70 points. The only down to some form the weekend was the news that Northumbria Uni AC has closed down. Northumbria hosted BUSA Indoors as recently as 2001 and took full part in competitions last year. The chief organiser Matt Norman graduated over the summer and the club no longer exists.

After Bangor voluntarily withdrew from NEUAL, Michael Ward is now down to 6 teams from 8 and is going to re-publish a revised NEUAL calendar. More seriously, the closure of the city of Newcastle's remaining university AC is a sharp reminder to all of the worst case scenario that could befall your club. It remains necessary to keep a steady flow of novices, both to shoot and later, to run each club. Not just for a better BUSA Championship position, but for the very existence of the club and the chance to introduce more people to the sport we enjoy.

High five as regional leagues take over. 01/Oct/03

This year no less than 30 universities should compete in 5 leagues spread all around the UK. The final piece of the jigsaw, SEAL comprises Brunel, Imperial, London, Surrey and Sussex. After last season, Imperial start favourites,but SEAL promises to be a competitive league especially given that due to smaller facilities, matches will be two-way. In its second season, NEUAL sees a few personnel changes with Bangor, Lancaster and Liverpool replacing Newcastle and Sheffield. At eight teams it is now the biggest of all the leagues. SUSF and BUTTS retain their traditional formula and with new life being breathed into SWWU, every part of the country has been covered - and a full two years ahead of the 2005 target I put forward in 2001.

I am delighted that we can get the season off on such a positive note, however it is worth noting that these competition run entirely on the basis of the enthusiasm of the organisers (and competing universities) and as such they can disappear as quickly as they arrive. Thus as we salute the local organisers for their work, don't forget that if you have enjoyed the competitions they have helped to put on, don't be shy about getting involved. You are needed.