Lilleshall NSC – 8-9th June 2019
Six brave archers woke up on the morning of the 7th June in anticipation for the weekend before them, as this was the weekend of BUCS outdoors, that meeting of the greatest universities of archery from across the country; anything could happen at such an event… anything but a drought.
The archers to be shooting over the two days of competition were: Callum Anderson, Bethany Logan, Stuart MacFarquhar, Harry Moncrieff Macmillan, David Metz and Charlie Steptoe. Along with accompanying support crew of Captain Yanna Fidai, Michael Sessions, Joe Tao and, of course, Gary, we set off on the long journey to Lilleshall. Upon arriving, the team speedily put together the tents, conducted mandatory “discussions” over sleeping arrangements and settled in for the night, blissfully unaware of the weekend’s forecast.
The next morning, we were awoken by some rain… Rain that would quickly evolve into a downpour that wouldn’t relent until the end of shooting. Even so, the SUAC team was ready for a long day of shooting and so it was. By the end of Saturday, all the SUAC archers had given an excellent account of themselves and had a great time doing it. Key performances must go to David Metz, coming in as the 5th Novice Gent and Callum Anderson, taking silver in Senior Gents Longbow. The senior men’s team came in as 8th overall for the day. At the end of the long, wet day, all the team were relieved to finally have some pub grub, with Fenton the Fox surprisingly eager to join Southampton for the evening!
By Sunday morning the tempest had finally cleared, and we were even greeted with some sunshine. The day of head-to-heads started with the standard 72 arrow qualification round, leading to Stuart Macfarquhar gaining 4th seed in the mixed longbow category. This was then followed by lunch, a quick exchange of animal “visitors” to Harry Otter (Exeter) and an afternoon of head-to-head matches including some very tense situations. Harry Moncrieff Macmillan’s showdown against Dom Collis coming down to an incredibly close shoot-off was a highlight of the day, along with two very close longbow matches for Callum and Stuart.
Congratulations to everyone who took part over the two days and many thanks to the support team for all their help. For those who unfortunately couldn’t make it, watch this space and lookout for the next BUCS opportunity in early 2020!
