Colin Britt won the Cheltenham Challenge

[<<] [>>] by Ivor Brand at Cheltenham
4th June (GC - Tournaments)

It became clear early on that this year's event was not going to be as supported as well as last year's 32 for some reason? The very 'select' group of 10 enjoyed, I believe a competitive competition on good lawns over two sunny days with extra entertainment thrown in for free!

The tournament itself was reduced to one large block of 10 all play all 13pt games, although with Ron Carter not showing up till 11am it was briefly truncated to a block of 9 with byes! At the end of day one after 6 rounds an undefeated Richard Brand was leading the way from the chasing pack. The following day saw Ivor Brand top the leader board over Colin Britt on net points and Richard Brand claiming the third place. The remaining knock out place also went down to net points being decided in the last round in favour of Ron Carter who stayed overnight rather than risk the M5 being shut again! The unfortunate Andy (Aussi) Barbero who missed out on qualifying proved his standing by winning the Consolation knock out over Caroline Denny 10-8.

In the semi-finals Ron made easy work of an under par Ivor 10-4, while Colin had a battle to come through on the golden after Richard missed his jump shot. The final was a close affair with Colin keeping his nose in front until at 8-6 they both approached the 'rover' hoop instead of going to hoop 1 (15). The confused 'crowd' eventually pointed out the error and normality continued with Colin keeping his 2 hoop advantage to win this year's Cheltenham challenge. (All results are on CS)

Finally, as always my gratitude goes to all the hard workers behind the scenes, ground staff and volunteers who come in early to set up the lawns, and provide the lovely afternoon teas.