On Wednesday 4th May we played for our Singles Trophy, the first time in two years. Earlier in the day we had found that, after weeks without rain, the pistes were playing very fast. Two hours before play everything changed ... the heavens opened drenching the pistes. This deluge added an extra dimension to play as they became a lot slower, benefiting some but not all.
Eight pistes were strung and together with Brighton Beach this enabled us to accommodate the twenty players signed up on Teamer. At 7:15 precisely and to the sound of Mike's air horn 20 players raced to their allotted pistes, to play the 30-minute timed melee with four playing on Brighton Beach.
The ten winners plus the next best six then took their places for a knockout round. Reaching the quarter finals were Dave Smith, JJ, Chris Hurst, Simon Ratliff, Mike Marshall, Loren Butt, Kevin Deane and Ray Hill .
With everyone seated for the semi-finals, Christ Hurst and Simon Ratliff together with Mike Marshall and JJ, treated the crowd to some magnificent petanque. Both teams bravely battling to reach the final. The crowd cheered and applauded and to the sounds of ooh's and ah's the final was decided, Mike Marshall to play Simon Ratliff.
The players at this point were feeling a little jaded and an umpire was called upon to eliminate the relentless pacing up and down. The crowd were not disappointed, both players produced some jaw dropping, nail biting play and with the mist now forming over the pistes, Simon eventually clinched the game, in what was a fantastic display of pointing skills by both players.
Well done to both finalists', a superb game and another Trophy in the cabinet for Simon.
Many thanks to Mike Marshall and Pete Jones for running this event.
Paul
Eight pistes were strung and together with Brighton Beach this enabled us to accommodate the twenty players signed up on Teamer. At 7:15 precisely and to the sound of Mike's air horn 20 players raced to their allotted pistes, to play the 30-minute timed melee with four playing on Brighton Beach.
The ten winners plus the next best six then took their places for a knockout round. Reaching the quarter finals were Dave Smith, JJ, Chris Hurst, Simon Ratliff, Mike Marshall, Loren Butt, Kevin Deane and Ray Hill .
With everyone seated for the semi-finals, Christ Hurst and Simon Ratliff together with Mike Marshall and JJ, treated the crowd to some magnificent petanque. Both teams bravely battling to reach the final. The crowd cheered and applauded and to the sounds of ooh's and ah's the final was decided, Mike Marshall to play Simon Ratliff.
The players at this point were feeling a little jaded and an umpire was called upon to eliminate the relentless pacing up and down. The crowd were not disappointed, both players produced some jaw dropping, nail biting play and with the mist now forming over the pistes, Simon eventually clinched the game, in what was a fantastic display of pointing skills by both players.
Well done to both finalists', a superb game and another Trophy in the cabinet for Simon.
Many thanks to Mike Marshall and Pete Jones for running this event.
Paul
