Leagues & Competitions Overview
The club takes part in both the SWWU (South Wales and West Universities) regional league and the BUCS (British Universities & Colleges Sport) national competitions (which often act as additional legs in the SWWU league).
Both of these competitions have indoor and outdoor legs/competitions and have categories for novices (archers who have not held membership to a national archery governing body before September 2022) & experienced archers, men & women, and each of the four main bow styles (barebow, recurve, longbow, and compound).
Whilst we celebrate all forms of success, our primary focus is on the team results for novice and experienced archers in the SWWU league & all results from BUCS (with the experienced archers competing for much coveted BUCS points).
Both of these competitions have indoor and outdoor legs/competitions and have categories for novices (archers who have not held membership to a national archery governing body before September 2022) & experienced archers, men & women, and each of the four main bow styles (barebow, recurve, longbow, and compound).
Whilst we celebrate all forms of success, our primary focus is on the team results for novice and experienced archers in the SWWU league & all results from BUCS (with the experienced archers competing for much coveted BUCS points).
SWWU League
The SWWU (South Wales and West Universities) league is our primary set of competitions. It's a regional competition with multiple legs (both indoors and outdoors). The league is competed between Aberystwyth, Bath, Bristol, Cardiff, Exeter, Plymouth, Swansea, UWE and Bangor; although these can change from year to year.
Whilst there are small prizes for top 3 placement in each individual category, it's primarily a team competition with an experienced team of 4 (mixed gender) and a novice team of 3. These teams simply consist of the best (non-compound) archers on the day (with novices able to be counted in the experienced team but not the other way around).
The league is mostly for pride, however it's a great yard stick to judge how well a club is preforming and can see some very competitive scores shot.
SWWU is organised by the students themselves and is typically more relaxed than other competitions.
More details can be found on the SWWU website and Facebook group.
Whilst there are small prizes for top 3 placement in each individual category, it's primarily a team competition with an experienced team of 4 (mixed gender) and a novice team of 3. These teams simply consist of the best (non-compound) archers on the day (with novices able to be counted in the experienced team but not the other way around).
The league is mostly for pride, however it's a great yard stick to judge how well a club is preforming and can see some very competitive scores shot.
SWWU is organised by the students themselves and is typically more relaxed than other competitions.
More details can be found on the SWWU website and Facebook group.
BUCS Competitions
The BUCS (British Universities & Colleges Sport) competitions are very big national competitions which feed into the overall BUCS series, which ranks all the Universities in the UK. BUCS is typically the competition that universities pay the most attention to, and as such are the ones they provide the most funding for. How a club performs at BUCS can have a large impact on the investment (time, money, and otherwise) that a club gets.
BUCS points are on offer for experienced teams and individuals; typically for the those who finish in the top 4. Medals are also awarded to top 3 finishes in all categories (subject to the number of people competing in said categories); including the novice ones.
BUCS events are normally very large, with ~700 archers competing in the indoor competition and around ~300 in the outdoor competition. It's common for archers to make a weekend of BUCS, and it often ranks as one of the top university memories for those who take part.
BUCS is organised by the BUCS organisation themselves, and tends to be much more formal than the likes of SWWU.
More details can be found on the BUCS Archery website.
BUCS points are on offer for experienced teams and individuals; typically for the those who finish in the top 4. Medals are also awarded to top 3 finishes in all categories (subject to the number of people competing in said categories); including the novice ones.
BUCS events are normally very large, with ~700 archers competing in the indoor competition and around ~300 in the outdoor competition. It's common for archers to make a weekend of BUCS, and it often ranks as one of the top university memories for those who take part.
BUCS is organised by the BUCS organisation themselves, and tends to be much more formal than the likes of SWWU.
More details can be found on the BUCS Archery website.
E-League
The E-League is a national, online competition. The year is split up into 5 lots of 1-2 month 'rounds' for which universities can submit scores (always a Portsmouth round) shot during practices, etc. (as long as they've conformed to competition conditions, etc.). These scores are then collected and the website is updated to reflect teams (universities can enter multiple teams if desired) and individual rankings.
The E-League conforms to the BUCS rules on eligibility, etc.
More details can be found on the E-League website.
The E-League conforms to the BUCS rules on eligibility, etc.
More details can be found on the E-League website.
BUTC
The British Universities Team Championships (BUTC) is intended to be a fun team competition to end the indoor archery season, around the time of the end of March each year.
Teams of three non-compound archers shoot on the same detail and boss, but at different target faces. The competition consists of a Bray I seeding round, where the sum of the scores shot by a team is used to generate their seed. This is then followed by the head-to-head round using the Beiter Hit/Miss targets, where the team with more hits progresses to the next stage.
There are usually 32 maximum teams, where empty spaces can be filled by universities submitting a B team - or in some cases a C team!
More information regarding the event can be found by clicking here.
Teams of three non-compound archers shoot on the same detail and boss, but at different target faces. The competition consists of a Bray I seeding round, where the sum of the scores shot by a team is used to generate their seed. This is then followed by the head-to-head round using the Beiter Hit/Miss targets, where the team with more hits progresses to the next stage.
There are usually 32 maximum teams, where empty spaces can be filled by universities submitting a B team - or in some cases a C team!
More information regarding the event can be found by clicking here.
Other Competitions
Club members also compete at non-student competitions, often including the county and regional championships amongst others. Interested archers should contact the club's Competitions Officer.
