With only a few events to go, the BUCS season is quickly coming to a close. Read more about our record year of BUCS/SSS league wins, as well as all the hard work and commitment shown by our sports clubs to date. 

A huge congratulations to our clubs, teams, captains, coaches and volunteers for seeing through a great and eventful year. Throughout the academic year, over 400 students competed in various BUCS and SSS competitions, with even more competing in non-BUCS and other national competitions. 

The amount of student sport participation we have seen this year could not have happened without the support of the Alumni Fund. 

 

This year the Sports Union has seen a record-breaking number of students become SU members which is a testament to how important sports is in fostering community at Strathclyde. 

We’ve also come into the academic year with 48 sports clubs and received three applications for associate clubs to get off the ground, one of which being cricket which started some indoor tape ball in semester two, and is about to add outdoor cricket sessions to their offering.

 

Upcoming Events 

Our BUCS season will come to a close after a few remaining events. Good luck to all the athletes preparing to compete in the BUCS Rowing Regatta, Equestrian Regionals and the Athletics Outdoor Championships. 

 

Highlights 

This has been a record year of competitive teams who have gone on to win their respective BUCS/SSS leagues. With 10 successful teams, we send a huge congratulations to Badminton Mixed 1s, Basketball M1, Football M1 & M2, Futsal W1, Netball 3s, Tennis M1, Shinty M1, Ultimate M1 and Rugby M1.

Five of these teams gained the chance to be promoted to the Premier League level. Congratulations to the Men’s Rugby 1st XV on their promotion to Premier North 1, and Women’s Badminton on gaining promotion in Premier North for the first time ever!

Badminton W1, Tennis W2, Netball 3s, Volleyball W1, Volleyball M1 and Futsal W1 all reached the final of their respective BUCS National league knockout events, with Badminton W1 and Netball 3s bringing home trophies! 

Strath Handball M1 were also declared the BUCS British Champs.

 

BUCS Nationals saw the Strath Athletics Women’s track team break the Scottish record for the 4x200m relay with a time of 1:40:40! Badminton took home the silver medal in the mixed doubles and swimming and climbing had some very respectable placings. 

 

In other competitions, the Strath Sailing team became 2023 BUSA Yachting Champions as well as taking first and second place in the SSS Yachting Championships. 

 

Our Cheerleading Pom team were crowned National Champions in both the Future Cheer University Nationals and the Legacy Cheer University Nationals. The club also picked up a myriad of other silverware throughout the year. 

 

Strathclyde Trampoline club had an outstanding year of competition as well. They had their first men’s team compete in over 20 years, gained their first ever men’s BUCS medal and had 6 finalists in competitions. Three of the 6 competitors started trampoline for the first time this year!

 

Some individual highlights include: 

• Judo’s Orla McEntee took home gold at the SSS Judo individual Championships
• Aidan Dowie placed first in the SSS Archery Indoor Championships
• Lucian Procopciuc won gold at the Spring Championships
• Laura Milne finished first place in the women’s C1 & sprint at the BUCS Canoe WWR. 

 

Club Performance 

Hear from Badminton Club President Kenneth Cheung, speaking on behalf of the Mixed 1s, on winning their BUCS league.

The Badminton Mixed 1s were crowned BUCS Mixed Tier 1 Champions after defeating Glasgow 1s 11-1 and 8-4. Kenneth said: “ Our mixed tier 1 got off to a very good start. Winning all our semester 1 matches very comfortably including 12-0 wins against St Andrews 1s & Stirling 1s.”

“However, we didn't start the second semester the way we wanted to. We lost to Edinburgh 1s (last year's winner)  7-5. Losing to Edinburgh 1s was the last thing we wanted because now the chances of us winning the league was a lot lower.”

“Despite this, the rematch against Edinburgh was a lot better and we bounced back, beating them 11-1. This meant we were back at the top of the league table. The finishing blow was when we beat Glasgow 1s to declare us as Mixed Tier 1 Champs.”

The club teams were coached voluntarily by a Strathclyde Sports Scholar this year. Kenneth shared: “In terms of training, we knew if we wanted to win the league, we all had to sacrifice our weekends and put in the effort. The additional training gave us a very good chance of winning the league and it paid off.”

Both the men’s and women’s badminton teams received the opportunity to play in the Badminton North Premier Playoffs. The teams were playing for a chance to be promoted to the North Premier League.

Kenneth said: “This was a big opportunity for our players to potentially play against the top universities across the UK. Both teams faced off against Manchester and it was not an easy challenge at all. Our guys just missed out, defeated 5-3 in their match. Our girls, on the other hand, won their match 5-3. This means our women's team will be playing in the top badminton division playing against the likes of Loughborough and Nottingham University.”

The club aims to defend their title of Mixed Tier 1 winners in the upcoming year as well as the women’s team leading a successful season in the North Premier League. Kenneth said: “Our goals focus on supporting the women’s team so that they can go on to win the National Championships. Same for the men’s team. We aim for a National Trophy win.” 

 

Marco Bonfanti, President of the Ultimate Frisbee Club, discusses the Men's First Team's path to success and winning their BUCS league.

Marcus said: “Since we had so many new players this year we focused heavily on development, as an investment for future seasons. This greatly paid off as demonstrated by the results we obtained not only winning all of our games in the BUCS league, but we also confirmed at UK nationals by coming 5th in the country.”

At the beginning of the BUCS season the team had many players graduate and leave Strathclyde. Marcus shared: “Facing generational change was our greatest challenge. Fortunately, we had a great beginners intake, with many dedicated players that allowed us to develop a strong squad for the year ahead. This allowed us to confirm again that Strathclyde Dark Horses are Scotland's best University Ultimate Team.”

The Ultimate Frisbee Club aims to take in even more new players, with the hopes to form a second team to qualify for Nationals. Marcus said: “Of course, we want to repeat the results obtained this season by winning the BUCS league again and trying to go for the podium at UK Ultimate University Nationals.”