Warwick win BUCS indoors!
On Saturday, 19 Warwick archers represented the university at BUCS indoors, the biggest one day competition in the UK, with nearly 700 people taking part. Having won all three league matches this year, the team went into the competition with high expectations, and were not to be disappointed…
Jess Watts gives the experienced report on the day:
The horrifically early and cold start to the day was quickly forgotten as a fun filled day of archery followed by alcohol was under way. The level of shooting was at a top standard with Warwick male recurve team placing gold knocking Oxford out of the top spot by 3 points with a score of 1728 in a team consisting of Tom (586 also getting an individual bronze medal), Luke (573) and Enrik (569). There was also success for novice female recurve Indigo getting a silver medal, and both the novice and female recurve team placed sixth overall. Bare bow Jake just missed out on a shiney placing fourth. Warwick success was further completed with extensive raffle prize wins ranging from alcohol to a mini foam boss to a stack load of pot noodles!!! Overall it was a highly successful day for the Warwick team! Jess Watts
Due to the early start (6am, thanks for that James Jeffs), the novices (Aurelien, Toby, Tim, and myself) took several hours to awaken enough to grow nervous for competition. Several of us napped in the back seat of the minibus, and we all loved rolling up to the venue before the hall had even opened. But as soon as we began setting up our bows, we quickly grew excited. We had no forgotten equipment (minus myself losing my shoestring), and no equipment failures during competition. Initially the atmosphere was very intense. Luckily there was a constant background of music and everyone started sharing sweets (one of the BUCS helpers made the most amazing brownies you have ever tasted!), which loosened us up a lot. The novices were thrilled when the Portsmouth finally ended, nearly 3 hours after it had started. We all got very strong scores, with PB’s in competition. Indigo Griffith
“The team retreated to a Pizza Hut buffet and Spoon’s pub respectively. Most of the novices ended up at Spoons, where Toby proceeded to fall asleep on the tabletop. Waiting through two more rounds was agonizing. Tim used the time to buy large quantities of raffle tickets. Unfortunately, during the raffle he didn't win, despite purchasing the largest amount of tickets of any UWAC member. The club was quite pleased that several members won bottles of wine, a box of sweets, a boss, and the best raffle prize of 36 pot noodles. Collectively we had a full meal by the raffle’s close. As a novice team, we were thrilled to place 6th overall! And we were very happy to have one novice medal in lady’s recurve silver. For our first national competition, I don’t think it could have gone much better! It definitely fired us up, and we look forward to our next big competition at BUTTS Championships in a few weeks.” Tim, Craig and Toby
Well done to everyone involved, who shot, drove, supported, raffled and photographed their way through the day.
