This year BUTC was hosted by The University of Derby on the 5th March. UWAC brought a record number of 22 people, with only six competitors! 32 teams from 21 different universities competed at the event. With the club being awarded a 2nd, B team, two teams were sent to compete for the Werner Beiter trophy. Warwick A comprised of Tom Hall, James Jeffs and Jorge Lindley. With Warwick B being Enrik Nako, Maddie Meatyard and Craig Devonport. Though hosting, Derby, had a shortage of volunteers to make up the field party. UWAC's early arrival, with a surplus of spectators came to the rescue and donned the orange T-Shirts of the staff forming an extra team, Warwick Helpers.
A Bray I round was shot, by all teams, so they could be ranked for the head to head disc tournament. Warwick A were top of the pack with a combined Bray I score of 813 and Warwick B just made it into the top half (15th) with a combined score of 745. Tom Hall scored the joint highest Bray I of the day, 285 with 17 golds, though lost out to first place on the number of Xs.
Head to heads started after each team had been ranked. Here each team shoots four ends with six arrows (two per archer) aiming at 60mm discs. The scores are on a hit or miss basis, with each hit being equivalent to one point. Spectators are encouraged to cheer on their teams as loudly as possible, unlike in most archery competitions. Warwick B unfortunately lost out to Edinburgh on their second head to head round, 6-8, after winning their first match against Lancaster B. It should be mentioned that Warwick B smashed one end managing to shoot all of the six discs on their boss.
Warwick A smashed their way through all their head to head matches beating; De Montford, Derby A, Loughborough B and Birmingham A, leaving the latter to shoot in the bronze medal match against Edinburgh. Tensions were high by the time the finals arrived with most of the Warwick Helper team having hung up their orange shirts and able to cheer on their team. Warwick A were shooting against Oxfords’ A team.
In the finals match the order of shooting changes meaning the archers from both teams shoot their two arrows alternately, further adding to the tension. Though spirit lifting chants of “more discs”, to the infamous tune of “more beer”, Warwick A pulled ahead until two unfortunate misses allowed Oxford to equalise on 12-12. Warwick spectators, previously shouting themselves hoarse, fell silent as James Jeffs stepped up to take the penultimate two arrows. A few seconds later they went wild as his first arrow hit gold. When the team went up to collect one arrow was upgraded to a hit giving Warwick a 14-12 win. Medals were awarded at the venue and Warwick A stood proudly on the top of the podium with Oxford A in second and Birmingham A in third. Prizes this year included Beiter hats, long rods, arrow holders, medals and of course the shiny Werner Beiter Trophy.
This event and win set the club in high spirits for BUTTS champs in the coming weeks. Thanks must also be given to Derby for hosting a successful BUTC event. Now on a completely unrelated note a friend of mine has recently acquired a Beiter long rod of which they have no use for contact the club for details…
A full breakdown of head to heads results can be found here.
