The Sussex Mohawks celebrate winning the 2017 BUCS Ultimate Outdoor Championships
The Mohawks in action at the BUCS Ultimate Outdoor Championships 2017
The University’s Ultimate Frisbee squad are celebrating after the men’s team won their fourth British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) Outdoor Nationals title at the weekend (April 29-30). Sussex now hold claim to more Ultimate University Open Outdoor titles than any other UK university.
The victory is the culmination of a season of regional and national success for the Mohawks, which includes a silver medal win at the BUCS Men’s Indoor Championships earlier this year. The side has been undefeated in regional BUCS games this season too, registering the most points out of any sports team. But they knew that to compete in nationals they would have to step it up a level.
Alongside four Great Britain Under-24 players, the squad has been strengthened this year with the reappearance of Sport Scholar Ashley Yeo. Ashley had previously played for the Mohawks during his undergraduate days at Sussex and returned to the University in 2016 to study for an MSc in Data Science. In addition to playing for the University, Ashley has represented Great Britain in tournaments since 2010 and has won three consecutive European club championships with his club Clapham Ultimate.
And the whole club has been dedicated to improving their performance from the previous 2015-16 season; working hard to develop both offensively and defensively through lots of training, strength and conditioning sessions and late nights in the University’s fitness rooms.
The squad made the trip to Nottingham to compete in the Championships and beat St Andrews and Birmingham in the quarter and semi-finals to face Bath in the decisive match. The peak of a tense tournament saw Sussex take the game 9-7 to reclaim the National Championship title.
Club President and Law undergraduate, Arran Belden, said:
“Sussex Mohawks have always been a very successful team: always competing at nationals and normally finishing highly. We had already finished second at indoor nationals in February, our moment of the year so far, and really wanted to go the extra place at outdoors.
“We knew we had a very good squad and it’s a real testament to the whole team’s commitment over the year and is extremely rewarding. It couldn't have happened without our tremendous coaches and late night extra sessions run by our excellent captains too. The win is huge for us - it's a great feeling being national champions.
“A massive thanks to the Students’ Union, Sussexsport and Active US for providing us with the support we needed to train, recruit, improve and win. It's a fantastic result for us but also a big win for the University, and we'll be doing our absolute best to win again next year!”
You can follow our sports teams' progress and BUCS ranking on the online BUCS points table.