The British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) on 23 of March, organized the National Championship Finals named Big Wednesday, which brought together months of planning to become one of the biggest one-day sporting events.

For this conclusion of the BUSC league and knockout program, the University of Nottingham played host to around 1500 athletes, coming from 25 universities, forming 114 teams, competing on the one of the largest domestic stages.
The best teams out of this competition, are joining and competing in some of the future EUSA events.

Starting on Wednesday at 9am, Nottingham was a hub of activity with 55 finals, in 16 sports, set to take place over 12 hours, to a sell-out crowd of over 5,000 fans.
The competitions were full on in: ICG Hockey, Wheelchair Basketball, Table Tennis, Fencing, Badminton, Squash, BT group basketball, Water Polo, American Football, Netball, Volleyball, Aldi Football, Rugby League and Rugby Union, Lacrosse and Teach First Tennis.

The day of these finals started strong with racket sports, the table tennis, Teach First tennis, squash and badminton finals, that did not disappoint, bringing the wins for the Universities of Warwick, Nottingham, Strathclyde, Birmingham, Stirling and Bath.

University of Nottingham was triumphing, becoming hometown hockey heroes, in the ICG Women’s and Men’s Championship final, as well as being the first in the women's football finals, causing the thrills and the spills, with a result of 6-0.

On the basketball court, the audience was treated to a spectacle from the first tip off until the final whistle, having University of Loughborough and Nottingham dominating in the BT Group Men’s and Women’s basketball, while University of Worcester triumphed over Cardiff Met in the wheelchair basketball.

University of Durham was dominating in the volleyball competiton with convincing wins in the men’s and women’s Championship, as well as in the pool, winning the women’s and men's Championship in water-polo. 

Celebrations were over the roof in rugby, lacrosse, netball, fencing and american football, having the student-athletes holding proudly their medals and awards.

Ms Alice Robinson, Head of Events, was full of happiness after a thrilling two days of sport; stating that: “For some, sport at university is a stepping stone onto the international stage. For so many more, sport is the defining highlight of their university experience, providing moments on and off the pitch that will stay in their hearts for a long time".

For more information, please see https://www.bucs.org.uk/