The annual shoot hosted by Brunel University, although not as well advertised as some, traditionally has a great deal of support among the University fraternity. The 2002 event was no different, with massive student turnout from Cambridge, hosts Brunel, Stag Hill (Surrey), and from the expanding legions at Imperial College. From slightly further afield, Edinburgh dispatched some of their higher flying members ñ just enough to make the team, in fact ñ and our own Paul Williamson and Ian McGibbon shot under Imperial colours, taking advantage of their associate memberships of that club (and lamenting the fact that SGB couldnít scrape together a teamÖ).

The northern visitors set the early pace, with Claudine Jennings leading the Ladies Recurve event (both university and open) from the start on 559, while Alistair Whittingham (observing that he had not yet won this event!) set the pace in the Gents Recurve divisions on 573. Matt Nowicki completed Edinburghís commanding early lead, easing into second in the Gents Recurve divisions on 567. The second session of the day did nothing to change the Gents leaderboard, despite the presence of Cambridgeís most recent and notorious alumni ñ Andy Somers, finally escaping the groves of academe, finished on a creditable score despite some high quality clicker control, yet still off the pace of the leaders. The fight at the top of the Ladies division was much more closely fought, with Mati Lang (University of London) shooting a competition and personal best to eventually edge into the lead of both open and university events on 560. Having completed his first score in the Recurve divisions, Alistair turned to his compound, and shot nominally into the lead on 585, well ahead of the competition. Unfortunately for Alistair, under the current GNAS rules, scores shot in a second session, even when in an alternative discipline, cannot count for either individual or team placings ñ a distinction recognised by the Edinburgher himself, but temporarily lost on the organisers, leading to later confusion in the prize giving.

With Edinburgh the team favourites in both open and university events, and dominating Ladies and Gents individual recurve divisions, attention moved to the Imperial competitors in the third session, including Paul and Ian. Despite working in new elements to his shooting style, including scoring a high quality three, David Wilson led the Imperial university squad with 563, while Tim Sheldon was only a few points behind, contributing a solid 559 to the overall score. Missing their usual third and fourth place men, the team looked to the Ladies for further support, finding it in the shape of Leo Lang, recently returned to Imperial for her archery related PhD (how does she do it?). Eloise Fowler, one of Imperialís large novice contingent, added to the potential collection of awards by shooting to both extremes, taking both the worst white trophy (an impressive fletched wooden spoon) and taking the lead in the novice ladies division.

Paul and Ian sought to contribute to the Imperial open team, with Paul scoring a solid 558. Ian, conscious that equalling or surpassing his performance from the week before [see Green Dragon Report] would place him in contention for the lead, opened poorly, but rapidly recovered to shoot some high scoring dozens. With all still to play for, the pressure and lack of stamina began to tell, and a poor last six arrows left Ian on 573 ñ equalling the morningís first place. Unfortunately for him, the man from the Pleasance had shot more golds, thus retaining the lead on the tie-break.

In the interim, Dave Spinner, also shooting under Imperial colours, fought to retain the Gents Compound trophy ñ having won it in 2001. Despite an excellent start, Dave suffered two major equipment failures, leaving him with a miss, 568 scored, and a bruised chin. Thankfully, this was enough to take the lead, owing to the fact that Alistairís stronger 585 did not count for the official results. Safe in the knowledge that he had probably done enough to retain his title, Dave bore the good natured derision of his recurve colleagues with remarkable fortitude. Also in the third session, Andrew Phillips completed the Edinburgh effort, and although not entirely happy with his personal score, his contribution was enough to ensure that the northerners retained the lead in both team events. Tom Firth from Abbey Bowmen, a regular on the open circuit, added to the tension in the open event, shooting a strong 571 and taking third place in the division.

The fourth and final session was the quietest, and while many retired to the nearest bar, and the Edinburgh squad continued their long journey north, a predominantly Brunel populated single detail completed the shoot. Despite their local knowledge, the hosts performance fell short of the commanding Edinburgh scores, and the leaderboard remained unchanged after the third session.

Brunel did their reputation few favours at the 2001 tournament, with a number of anomalous results ñ and several versions of the final results sheet ñ being debated by the competitors before the medal positions were finally resolved.

The prize giving this year went more smoothly, aided perhaps by the impressive work done on the scoring software by the hostís Debbie Keith. There were still, however, a number of flaws in the initial presentation, owing largely to the failure of some of the competitors (Imperial included) to accurately identify which of their team were, or were not, eligible for the student competition. This is clearly a detail that competitors will have to consider carefully for future events. However, it was worrying to observe that the organisers did not seem to be aware of the GNAS ruling on second or subsequent scores being ineligible ñ although the senior Judge present was, after some reflection, able to confirm this ñ and, even more alarming, that they intended to include compound scores in the team results. While it is, of course, possible to stipulate that a team should include compounds while allowing, perhaps, that an extra recurve should fill in if no compounds are available, the lack of clarity (many assumed the team events to be for recurve teams) can lead easily to a severely unbalanced team competition. This is an issue that the organisers will need to address in future years, if they are to retain the goodwill of their traditional supporters.

When the dust did eventually settle, Alistair Whittingham (Edinburgh) realised his ambition to win the Gents recurve events, Mati Lang (University of London) took the Ladies recurve divisions, and Edinburgh took open and university team events. Matt Nowicki was second placed University Gents Recurve, with David Wilson third, while Ian McGibbon took second in the open event, Tom Firth coming in third. David Spinner retained the open Compound trophy. Imperial were second in the open team event, and third in the university competition, narrowly losing out to a strong Southampton performance.