Reports of CA Events 2017
Nick Mounfield won the Letchworth advanced weekend
by Andrew Gregory at Letchworth
8th August
Letchworth advanced weekend, 5-6 August 2017
Nick Mounfield won the Letchworth advanced weekend, beating all the other 8 players. He also completed his first sextuple peel.
The best game was Lines v Lines. Ian and Debbie were both 1 and 4-back when Debbie got a break. Unable to set up a standard TP, she instead went for a standard TPO. (This tactic was briefly in vogue in the early '90s.) Two balls were pegged out. Ian proved better at gaining position, and despite there being just one roquet in the endgame, Ian won by 2.
Best of the rest was the improving David Marsh. He had 2 TPs, including a 6th turn effort v Ian Lines.
1st Nick Mounfield 8/8
2nd Ian Lines 6/8
3rd David Marsh 5/7
by Andrew Gregory at Letchworth
8th August
Letchworth advanced weekend, 5-6 August 2017
Nick Mounfield won the Letchworth advanced weekend, beating all the other 8 players. He also completed his first sextuple peel.
The best game was Lines v Lines. Ian and Debbie were both 1 and 4-back when Debbie got a break. Unable to set up a standard TP, she instead went for a standard TPO. (This tactic was briefly in vogue in the early '90s.) Two balls were pegged out. Ian proved better at gaining position, and despite there being just one roquet in the endgame, Ian won by 2.
Best of the rest was the improving David Marsh. He had 2 TPs, including a 6th turn effort v Ian Lines.
1st Nick Mounfield 8/8
2nd Ian Lines 6/8
3rd David Marsh 5/7
Chris Farthing Won the Letchworth 14-point Advanced Tournament
by Nick Mounfield at Letchworth
7 Apr 2017
The early-season Letchworth event is still (and rather disappointingly) the only 14-point Advanced AC event in the CA's fixture calendar. And yet again it proved an excellent format for a single-day event, with all nine players having a thoroughly enjoyable time.
The tournament format was flexible Swiss with 80-minute time limits in force. In total 27 games were completed (an average of six per player), with just five going to time. No peeling turns were completed, although a number were attempted. The closest being an attempted quad which ground to a halt with clips on hoop 6 and peg.
Finishing the day with the only 100% record, Chris Farthing was this year's clear winner. Nick Mounfield and Eugene Chang shared second place.
CA GC Handicap Tournament 9th June
Stephen THORNTON (Australia) wins both the Letchworth GC Handicap Tournament (9 June) and the Letchworth GC Level Play Tournament (10 June).
In the Letchworth June GC Handicap Tournament, THORNTON finished second in his block on five points (one game being timed out at 5-5) behind Andrew FALL (Enfield) on six points. FALL, had beaten THORNTON 7-6 in their block game, and both went on to win their semi-finals to set up a rematch. In the 19-point final THORNTON gave FALL 11 extra turns but even that was not enough: THORNTON put on a masterclass performance – aggressive and accurate – and at times seemed to completely dominate the court. But with 11 extra turns it was always going to be close and FALL fought hard. A thoroughly enjoyable game to watch. THORNTON finished the day with a handicap change from 1 to 0.
In the Letchworth June GC Level Play Tournament, THORNTON was top of his block winning all his games, including that against Nick MOUNFIELD (Letchworth) his eventual opponent in the final. In the semi-finals, MOUNFIELD won a predictably hard-fought game against Tim KING, while THORNTON beat Letchworth’s John SKINGSLEY, who went on to take third place by beating KING 7-6. The 19-point final between THORNTON and MOUNFIELD was a monumental game with some outstanding hitting, a few nervy errors, and a couple of interesting issues to keep the referees engaged. But in the end, it was THORNTON who made fewer mistakes and kept his head to take the final hoop. Result: THORNTON beat MOUNFIELD 10-9.
In the Letchworth June GC Handicap Tournament, THORNTON finished second in his block on five points (one game being timed out at 5-5) behind Andrew FALL (Enfield) on six points. FALL, had beaten THORNTON 7-6 in their block game, and both went on to win their semi-finals to set up a rematch. In the 19-point final THORNTON gave FALL 11 extra turns but even that was not enough: THORNTON put on a masterclass performance – aggressive and accurate – and at times seemed to completely dominate the court. But with 11 extra turns it was always going to be close and FALL fought hard. A thoroughly enjoyable game to watch. THORNTON finished the day with a handicap change from 1 to 0.
In the Letchworth June GC Level Play Tournament, THORNTON was top of his block winning all his games, including that against Nick MOUNFIELD (Letchworth) his eventual opponent in the final. In the semi-finals, MOUNFIELD won a predictably hard-fought game against Tim KING, while THORNTON beat Letchworth’s John SKINGSLEY, who went on to take third place by beating KING 7-6. The 19-point final between THORNTON and MOUNFIELD was a monumental game with some outstanding hitting, a few nervy errors, and a couple of interesting issues to keep the referees engaged. But in the end, it was THORNTON who made fewer mistakes and kept his head to take the final hoop. Result: THORNTON beat MOUNFIELD 10-9.
Craig Winfield won the Letchworth Mid-Week B-Level
by Terrey Sparks at Letchworth
7 Jul 2017
Due to a recurring knee injury resulting in the withdrawal of Alan Clarke during his first game, and after a few frantic telephone calls a late replacement in Craig Winfield was found to take Alan's place who not only swept aside all opposition winning all his five games but performed his first tournament triple peel to gain a Gold Award plus a handicap reduction from 3.5 to 3. The runner up Cesar Miranda - Reynes on four wins also incurred a Handicap reduction from 2.5 to 2.
Despite threats of rain nothing materialised and both two days stayed fine and sunny even though the croquet seemed at times to be in the doldrums. Of the 22 games eleven went to time and five of these ended +1(T) as players took a cautious approach.
by Terrey Sparks at Letchworth
7 Jul 2017
Due to a recurring knee injury resulting in the withdrawal of Alan Clarke during his first game, and after a few frantic telephone calls a late replacement in Craig Winfield was found to take Alan's place who not only swept aside all opposition winning all his five games but performed his first tournament triple peel to gain a Gold Award plus a handicap reduction from 3.5 to 3. The runner up Cesar Miranda - Reynes on four wins also incurred a Handicap reduction from 2.5 to 2.
Despite threats of rain nothing materialised and both two days stayed fine and sunny even though the croquet seemed at times to be in the doldrums. Of the 22 games eleven went to time and five of these ended +1(T) as players took a cautious approach.
