Performance: Cardiff ranked 8th in BUCS after 2011 Championships
4 April 2011
The BUCS Championships 2011 were recently held in Sheffield and proved to be a very successful event for Cardiff University. After all the points won were totalled up and added to the overall league table Cardiff were sat in a record high position of 8th. It must be noted that over 150 Higher Education Institutions take part in BUCS so it is a very competitive environment and to be ranked in the top 10 is an outstanding position to be in.
The first team to compete in Sheffield were Ladies Hockey who had qualified for the BUCS Trophy final against Manchester. Cardiff had a good run to the final after a another successful league campaign but Manchester would prove a tough test after competing well in a strong Northern Premier league all season. The game started as a nervous affair but the vocal travelling Cardiff support soon helped the team settle and Cardiff took a deserved 1-0 lead into half time thanks to a well worked goal from a penalty corner. Manchester came out for the second half a different team and finally found a cutting edge that saw them equalise after a succession of penalty corners of their own. This seemed to inspire the Cardiff team who went on the front foot and scored 2 quick goals with no answer from Manchester who let frustration get the better of them resulting in a player being sent to the sin bin. Unfortunately Cardiff couldn’t take advantage of having an extra player and Manchester scored against the run of play to make the score 3-2 going into the final ten minutes. As time ran out Cardiff defended superbly with some brave goalkeeping and defending as Manchester forced penalty corner after penalty corner. The final whistle was welcomed by a great reception from the outstanding travelling support and the team were presented the trophy by BUCS CEO Karen Rothery. Congratulations to the whole squad on a successful season and outstanding performance in the final resulting in some well deserved silverware.
The Fencing finals took place in the English Institute of Sport and Cardiff were again represented in the Ladies Trophy final. The Cardiff team have had a very successful season and only missed out on winning the league after a narrow 2 point defeat against Bristol. After this result the team worked extremely hard to ensure the season didn’t fizzle out and had a great run in the knockouts resulting in them reaching the Trophy final. The team that travelled to Sheffield was made up of Natalie Brown, Lucy Ridsdale, Joanna Chen and Natasha Lewis-Oliver. A mention must also go to Abi Difford who has been an integral member of the team in the last 2 years but unfortunately couldn’t make the trip. The opposition in the final was Glasgow University who themselves had a successful league season and included a Scottish international in their squad. Given the Cardiff team themselves have plenty of international experience they had nothing to fear but had nonetheless identified potential dangers in Glasgow’s line up. After the first weapon (Foil) Cardiff had taken a solid lead before entering the Epee and Sabre rounds. The team knew they just had to match Glasgow and that’s exactly what they did with both Epee and Sabre being closely fought contests. As a result Cardiff won the Trophy with a resounding 129 – 116 points win. Another fantastic result for the University and congratulations must go to all those involved in another successful year for the Fencing Club.
Other team events which Cardiff University were represented included the Men’s Volleyball Championships Final 8’s, the Trampolining Championships, the Snooker Championships and the Ultimate Frisbee Division 1 finals. Men’s Volleyball have had a very successful few years and finished a very credible 4th place in last year’s finals. After being unbeaten in winning the BUCS Western Conference this year the players went into the final full of confidence and wanted to improve on last year’s placing. Group games were won against Imperial and Queens Belfast before a close defeat to a strong Leeds Met team who were full of international players from across Europe. This left the team with a tough semi-final draw against reigning champions Sheffield Hallam. Unfortunately Sheffield proved too strong but the Cardiff players still had an important Bronze medal play-off match against Bournemouth University to look forward to. After beating Bournemouth in the league earlier in the year Cardiff knew what to expect and didn’t let complacency get the better of them and won the match 2 sets to nil. This gave them a well deserved improvement on last year in the form of a Championship Bronze medal.
The Snooker Championships were held just up the road from Sheffield in the Northern Snooker Centre, Leeds. Cardiff University have always performed well in the event but this year was to prove even better than normal. After performing well at the recent Midlands Universities Championships the team felt they were in with a good shout of bringing home some medals and they didn’t disappoint. The Individual Championships had a large amount of entries so for 3 of the 4 semi-finalists to be Cardiff University players was a great achievement. Mark Green went on to win the Gold medal after beating Mike Walsh (York University) in a closely fought final with Huw Carpenter and Layton Brookes sharing the Bronze medal. Mention must also go to Luke Turford who also won a Bronze medal in the Individual Trophy. After such success in the individual events the players were confident of further glory in the team finals. After successfully negotiating their way to the final Cardiff were up against last years losing finalists – York University. The final went down to the wire with the 2 individual finalists (Mark Green and Mike Walsh) battling it out in the final frame. Fortunately for Cardiff Mark Green kept his nerve to confirm Cardiff University as BUCS Snooker Champions leaving York with another final defeat to get over. Well done to all those who travelled from Cardiff in what was a hugely successful event.
Cardiff University’s Trampolining Club have been very active in recent years in terms of club development, hosting events, working in the community and producing some successful athletes. Training is based at the Sports Training Village – Talybont and the club hoped the hours put in this year would produce results in the BUCS Championships in Sheffield. In the Ladies Individual Advanced competition Cardiff’s only qualifier was Elly Blackwell. The final contained 20 athletes and Elly lead by example by winning an outstanding Silver Medal, only missing out on Gold by 2 points. This was a great start for the squad and the other team members were spurred on by Elly’s success. The Ladies team included Elly along with Holly Bryant and Bethan Mercer. Each athlete must contribute to the team score and all 3 girls performed well resulting in high enough scores to win a Gold medal and be crowned BUCS Ladies Team Champions 2011. The Men’s team were not quite as successful in finishing a credible 5th but only missed out on a Bronze medal by an agonising point. All in all a fantastic Championships for the Trampolining Club to add to the University’s success in Sheffield!
The final weekend of the Championships saw both individual and team events taking place. The Cardiff University Ultimate Frisbee team (No Frills) travelled to Mount St. Mary’s playing fields and performed well to finish 8th in the top division and round off a successful week for Cardiff University’s teams. Individually, International Judo player Natalie Powell took part in the Judo Under 70kg weight category. After narrowly missing out on Gold last year Natalie was determined to go one better in 2011. After qualifying for the final again Natalie didn’t let herself down and remained focussed to achieve her goal of winning the Gold medal. This can be added to Natalie’s numerous successes across Europe and has resulted in her being invited to represent British Universities at the European Universities Sports Association Championships in Sarajevo this Summer. Natalie is only in her second year so hopefully she can defend her BUCS title next year and we wish her every success between now and then.
Two other BUCS Finals were held at the same time as the Championships in Sheffield but at different locations. The Water Polo finals were held in Sheffield and the Swimming Team finals in Loughborough. Cardiff University were represented in both and again brought home some medals. The Women’s Water Polo team were hoping to defend the Championship they won last year and had looked imperious in the qualifying rounds over the last few months. Unfortunately some dubious umpiring decisions left the team with a mountain to climb but they still managed to come home with a Bronze medal which should be deemed as a success. The team was disappointed which shows the high level of expectation they have reached and will no doubt be back to try and regain the British Universities title next year. Also, the Swimming team travelled to Loughborough University for the BUCS Team Championship finals. The event hasn’t been contested by the Cardiff University team for some years, so this year the swimming team were determined to make an impact. In February, they shocked the Southern Universities, by winning at the brand new sports park at the University of Surrey gaining a place in the Finals to be held in Loughborough. Cardiff, the only team from Wales to gain a place in the Finals, were loud and proud in supporting and focussed on the competition at hand. Hard training leading up to this event meant that the Cardiff swimmers were fitter and better in their strokes through the water which was showing in the results as in many of the races the commentator had already announced Cardiff as the winners by half way through the final length. Even with all of the individual success, Cardiff were not on for a clear win. Tactical racing ensured a small lead going into the final double-point-winning relays but Glasgow and York were not far behind. Excessive motivation came from men’s captain and the girls team reacted admirably. Against very tough and very good swimmers, Nichola Gordon-Jones, Lucy Jenner and Ceris Westlake swam excellently and Libby Hetherington bought home the win. It was then down to the Men’s team. Led out by Rory Hollings, Cardiff led from the start. Jack Thomas who’d swam brilliantly all day made it look easy. Chris Campbell, extended the lead and Glyn Chisholm-Jones displayed the fact that Cardiff are a cut above the rest in the pool by winning the Division Gold medal at their first attempt. Congratulations to the team and good look to those who have been selected to represent Welsh Universities in Belfast at the Celtic Nations!
The successful Cardiff Ladies Hockey team with the BUCS Trophy!
Joanna Chen in action for the Fencing team on their way to winning the BUCS Trophy
Cardiff University Snooker team
Natalie Powell - BUCS Judo Champion 2011