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

 

 

 

Nottingham's six day Annual Tournament  – a highlight of the year for many – took place from 16th to 21st August. It was on a smaller scale than in previous years because we were restricted to five lawns, the newly-seeded lawns 6 to 9 having been held back by the poor spring weather. A total 0f 30 players were involved, but not everyone was in every event.

The big Handicap, for the Robin Hood Cup, saw a range of handicaps from -1.5 to 14 in the quarter-finals, after 4 days of flexible Swiss competition to find the top 8. The final was between Debbie Watson (Nottingham) and Roger Staples (Middlesbrough), and was reduced to 18 points to allow Roger to travel. Debbie won +18 in just over an hour.

The A class had 11 competitors, played as a flexible Swiss until Friday lunchtime, followed by a knockout for the top four. In the semi-finals Omied Hallam beat Arthur Rowe and Phil Eardley beat Joel Taylor, then Omied beat Phil +3 in the final.

The B Level singles was an American block of 6 players followed by a play-off between the top two. John Filsak played Roger Staples, and had his revenge for the block stage loss to Roger, winning +10.

The C class (Ordinary level singles) had 4 entries, played as two American blocks, so that each player played the others twice. Mick Haytack won the first series and Mark Lansdale the second, after the Manager had scratched Debbie Watson from the second series because of her commitments in the Robin Hood and the doubles, otherwise there would have been a 3-way tie to sort out. In the play-off Mark beat Mick +3.

The D class (Full bisque base 10 handicap singles) had 4 entries, played as two American blocks, so that each player played the others twice. Cathy Turski was undefeated in both blocks to take the trophy.

13 pairs entered the Handicap Doubles knockout, and in the final Phil Eardley and Cathy Turski played Omied Hallam and Debbie Watson. Omied and Debbie were ahead for much of the game, but Phil made a break to the peg as time was called to level the scores. Omied missed the long shot he was left by the narrowest of margins, and Cathy duly ran the golden hoop to win +1t.

Fuller report and detailed results on the CA website. 

Photo: Debbie Watson receiving the Robin Hood Cup from club president, Ian Vincent.