The 2025 GC Veterans Championship was won by Simon Carter

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Simon Carter & Tim Russell (Photo: Ray Hall)

Play at Sussex County Croquet Club took place over three days. Following the usual programme for this event, the 24 players were arranged into two blocks, each playing 11 single games over the first day and the following morning, followed by a knockout and plate stage.

Conditions were good at Southwick; the Quadway hoops were set to their narrowest standard, which still gave a generous clearance and made the hoops manageable.

By the end of the first day, of the top seeds Tim Russell had 6 wins out of 7 games, losing to Trevor Smith; James Field had 5/7 wins, losing to Steiner Olsen and John Carr (who played like a man possessed all tournament with superbly accurate shooting), and Tournament Referee Ian Shore, who was not having a great day despite some excellent clearances and a wonderful jump shot ending to one game, finishing the day with 3/7 wins. The surprise, however, was Simon Carter who lost 3 games on the first day (3 happy players could go home saying they beat the eventual champion!)

Outside of the top seeds, others were having a good day: Phil Davies (ranked in the bottom sixth of the event) won 5/7 games on the first day, and a further 3 on the second to win him a place in the knockout stage.

By the end of the block stage it was Dochniak, Olsen, Russell and Farrow who qualified from the red block (in that order) and Huttley, Davies, Carter and Wise in the blue block.

In the quarter-finals, Simon Carter, finding form which was evading him on the first day, Tim Russell and David Wise made short work of their opponents, with Mark Huttley winning in three hard-fought games against Liz Farrow. A 7-3, 7-2 win for Simon against Mark Huttley and a harder 3 game win for Tim against David Wise set up the final for the afternoon of the final day.

Simon kindly described the final for me:

Old rivals and good friends, Simon Carter and Tim Russell, met in the final. As top seeds in their blocks, this was the expected outcome, but their paths to this point had not been without hiccups and surprises in the block stage. Simon had a particularly scrappy first day, losing three games. Tim's progress was smoother, though he did lose to the event's oldest player, Trevor Smith. Simon had then found his form and cruised in straight games to the final, while Tim had a very close best of three with David Wise in the semi to secure his place.

The final began with Simon on cracking form, running hoops from distance and leaving Tim wondering how he'd got to 6-1 down so rapidly. However, Tim showed true grit, guile and talent to claw the game back to 6 all before Simon ran a slightly nervy 13.

The second game was Tim's from start to finish at 7-3, with Simon never really having a look in, setting up a crowd pleasing third game. This last one ebbed and flowed, with strong long-range clearances from both players, and the score was soon 4 all with every hoop being a tussle. Hoop 9-as so often is the case-was the turning point. Tim had put in what seemed like a narrow blocker that saw Simon prone on the grass in Mulliner fashion, before executing a long, angled shot to squeak past, and straight down to just by hoop 10. More tussles ensued before Tim levelled the game at 6 all. Simon's first approach to 12 had perfect weight but was the victim of a sneaky curve that swung it into the back of the hoop. Shoulders slumped, Simon waited for the inevitable jump from Tim to claim the title, but as we all know, a jump from a yard in a friendly is not the same at 13 in a championship. Tim blobbed the shot, but left his ball in front, leaving Simon to have a go, and once again, the nerves showed but Simon did achieve 'ball swap' leaving his own ball snugly into the hoop and Tim out of options.

It was a very well fought, good natured final that could have gone either way and Tim will be back next year to try to reclaim it from Simon!

The plate event, with 14 players taking part, was arranged as 7 rounds of cross-block play, in the expectation that it might peter out towards the end, which indeed it did with long journeys beckoning some players and the prospect of a good final to watch for others.

At least 5 games were played by all and at that point Ian Shore, the only player to have won all his games, was declared the winner. Sadly, there is no trophy for the plate event, so Ian fashioned his own from a paper plate and 'engraved' it himself; hopefully Croquet England can find a proper trophy for future years (and for the shield too).

Whilst the final was engrossing the crowd at Southwick, Shield finalists Liz Farrow and Phil Davies were quietly battling away on Lawn 4. Liz took the first game easily at 7-0 but Phil pulled himself together for the second, winning 7-6. The last game slipped away from him however, with Liz taking the game at 7-3.

Congratulations to the winners and to all who took part. The whole event was played in genuine good humour and with enjoyment.

We were sorry that this year, for the first time since the GC Vets was established, Richard Brooks was unable to play in the tournament for family reasons; however, he was able to attend the final and presented the Brooks Vase to Liz Farrow who won it for the second year running as the best-placed player over 75.