Last weekend our club hosted the Golf Croquet A-Level (DG<2000) Series Tournament, one of a series of 16 Croquet England events running across the country on weekends throughout the Spring and Summer. This was the last tournament of the series, and the last chance for players to qualify for the National Final at Ramsgate at the end of September.
On Saturday, 16 players played in two blocks of 8 in an all-play-all format. Whether it was pure skill, or whether home advantage played a part (!), Simon finished a (long) day on top of Block A and last year’s winner Alex sat top of Block B. All to play for, and a place at always-windy Ramsgate at stake.
Sunday consisted of two knockouts, one for the Main draw and one for the Plate competition. The final, between Alex and Steve Baldwin from Compton Eastbourne, was a tense affair, with Steve edging the win 7-4 in the final game. As a result, after running 82 hoops over the two days, Steve was a worthy winner and thereby qualifying for Ramsgate. Congratulations Steve, and commiserations Alex.
There was better news for the home players in the Plate event which was won by our very own Ian Cumming, overcoming Margaret Page from Ealing in a best of 3 final. Well done Ian, great result!
Hosting these competitions is a great way of advertising our club, but they don’t come without a lot of effort. Huge thanks must go to Michael for preparing the event, running it on the day, sorting out the results, acting as referee ….. the list goes on.
But there’s a lot of other stuff to be done behind the scenes to successfully run these high-profile events. Thanks to Jonathan for setting the hoops in the baking sunshine of Friday afternoon, to Simon and Dave for refreshing the lines, to Alex for cutting the grass verges, to Patricia and Marian for the catering on the day, and to the volunteers who baked cakes for the players. Well done everyone, it couldn’t have happened without you.
