Nottingham hosted the prestigious GC First Eight (Ricki Savage memorial) tournament from Sat 28th to Mon 30th August. The strongest 8 available GC players in the country competed, including four of our own members: Richard Bilton (who also managed the tournament), Rachel Gee, Euan Burridge and Ian Burridge. The other players were John-Paul Moberly (Bowdon), Stephen Milliner (Surbiton), James Galpin (Nailsea) and Aston Wade (Hamptworth). (It was good to see a wide age range, with a median age of under 30). The format was an all-play-all in best of three matches, followed by a two round knockout. In the semi-finals Moberly beat Wade convincingly and Euan Burrige beat Gee narrowly, with Moberly beating Burridge in the final 7-3, 4-7, 7-3.
Four sets of Atkins Quadway hoops were used for this event, and extra temporary fencing was erected along the stream side to prevent or minimise ball loss. We are grateful to Charlie for extra hoop setting work and to a team of volunteers for erecting the fencing. We also used this opportunity to test the use of land drain piping as a ball stop and feedback is broadly encouraging.
Detailed results on Croquetscores here and here.
A detailed report of the event will be posted on the CA website.
Photos: John-Paul Moberly, Richard Bilton, Rachel Gee, Ian Burridge
