The 2023 BUCS Outdoor Archery Championships took place earlier this month, and saw the University of Nottingham win more medals than any university present! Medals were awarded based on the overall score achieved from 3 events – the WA720, followed by head to heads and finally a WA900.
Held on the 10th and 11th of June, our University of Nottingham team competed at Lilleshall National Sports Centre in Telford. On the first day, archers shoot a WA720, which is the same round that they shoot in the Olympics. Based on results from this round, they take part in head to heads. On the second day, archers shoot a WA900. UoN Archery’s only current sports scholar and shooter for the GB archery team, Louisa Piper came first in all three events across the weekend, winning the gold Individual Experienced Women’s Recurve medal. Lousia also won gold in the Experienced Women’s Non-Compound Team category, alongside teammates Hannah Evans and Charlotte Chard. This is the same team that won gold in the BUCS Indoor Finals earlier this year in March. All 3 archers in this team finished within the top 10 in all 3 events (Louisa = 1, 1, 1, Hannah = 7, 4, 4, Charlotte = 8, 9, 9). Layla Nimmo also brought home a gold for the Individual Novice Women’s Recurve.
Nottingham archers Sam Cartwright and Ben Young won two silvers, in the Individual Experienced Men’s Compound and Individual Experienced Men’s Barebow respectively. This is the second of Sam’s individual medals this year, having won gold at the BUCS Indoor Finals back in March. A remarkable feat considering he only began shooting compound three years ago.
The team also brought home four bronze medals, including two in the men’s novice category. Ben Harden came third in the Individual Novice Men’s Compound and Leo Bircham placed third in the Individual Novice Men’s Barebow. In the Experienced Mixed Compound Team, Sam Carter and Holly Hunter also won bronze, and novice Kieran Rugg won bronze in the Individual Experienced Men’s Longbow category. Kieran has shown a natural talent, beginning archery through the beginner’s course with the university club in October 2022. He has skipped the novice category and entered as an experienced archer, which meant he was up against other archers who had been shooting for many years previously.
Due to weather forecast for Saturday afternoon, some of the head to heads had to occur very early on the second day of competition before the start of the WA900. Archery is often done in any weather, but due to the forecast predicting thunderstorms, and many bows being made out of metal, shooting in lightning is very dangerous and therefore not allowed. Across the weekend, the archers faced scorching sun with temperatures of up to 28°C alongside spells of torrential rain.
Many of our #GreenandGold team have now entered the Archery GB National Tour events, which are held all over the country and see many skilled archers compete for a national ranking.
Congratulations to the University of Nottingham Archery club on such a successful weekend, and good luck in future competitions!
For more information about the event, you can visit https://www.bucs.org.uk/events-page/archery-outdoor-championships-2022-23.html, and for more detailed results follow https://ianseo.net/Details.php?toId=14235 for day one, and https://ianseo.net/Details.php?toId=14236 for day two. You can also keep up to date with the archery club on social media here.
As well as a reputation for academic excellence, we have a history of sporting success and are passionate about supporting promising athletes during their time at the University of Nottingham. To find out more about our Sports Scholarship, please click here.
Posted on Monday 26th June 2023