Club Champions Tournament
by year:
Association Croquet
Fourteen competitors from seven of the Eastern Region's clubs gathered at Wrest Park on Saturday 17th April to take part in the first of the Federation's outdoors events for 2010, The Clubs Champions Tournament. The tournament split into the usual 3 groups of Advanced, 'B' Level Advanced and Handicap, and was managed by Terrey Sparks the Federation's Secretary. It was a glorious sunny spring day and the lawns were in excellent condition.
Advanced
This attracted 4 entrants: Simon Hathrell, Mike Porter, Rod Ashwell and Terrey Sparks. This group was played on a
round robin, which after two rounds saw two players on 2 wins out of 3, Mike Porter (Newport) and Simon Hathrell
(Watford) who met in the final round of the group. This proved to be a close game throughout with the winner Mike Porter
scraping home +1 (T) to take the trophy to Newport.
'B' Level Advanced
This group had an entry of 6: John Smallbone, Chris Van Essen, Terry Mahoney, Colin Hemming, Adrian Kirby and Nick
Mounfield. Played on a modified Swiss format, Nick (Letchworth) playing solidly off a handicap of 4 after two rounds
stood at 2 wins. Also Colin (Colchester) in early season form too had managed a 100% record. Playing in a block final
Nick went into turbo overdrive and quickly saw off Colin +26 to take the trophy to Letchworth.
Handicap
4 competitors met in this group: Robin Barry, Robert Skeen, David Marsh and Nick Steiner, which was played as a
round robin. This was a much closer fought group and after the first two rounds only one player stood on 2 wins Nick
(Colchester), with David and Robin on 1 win apiece and Robert yet to win a game. Nick played David (Wrest Park) but,
unfortunately seemed to lose his way and went down -17. This meant that on the who-beat-whom rule David Marsh was the
group winner and the trophy went to the home player.
Switching this tournament to the beginning of the outdoors season has been a great success, and not only an enjoyable experience but also a good start for the players in their preparation for the long summer ahead.
Terrey Sparks Nick Mounfield on his way to victory |
 The winners, left to right: Nick Mounfield, David Marsh, Mike Porter |
 Mike Porter on his way to victory |
See also:
