Stuart McKendrick Trophy 2012

29 July 2012, Lauriston Castle

The Sunday of the 2012 Stuart McKendrick Trophy had some of the best weather in July.  Unfortunately, this only meant that it didn't rain very much, patches of blue sky could be glimpsed on a few occasions, and there were periods when it was almost, but not quite, warm enough to play in just a T shirt.

Preparations for the tournament were delayed by problems finding hoop holes, and making sure that all the hoops were actually runnable, and it was not until around 2:15 that the five half lawns were ready for play.  The delay, though, was perhaps just as well since there was a steady trickle of arrivals right up until then!

There were 15 players in all, half a dozen from the Meadows club, and the rest from the Edinburgh club (though it should be said that not all of them had actually been expecting to play in a tournament, although they joined in anyway!).

The event manager, Robert Inder, had been asked to continue the format adopted the previous year: players could choose to play either Golf Croquet (half lawns, 30 minutes time limit, one point for the winner), or AC (short croquet, 1h time limit, two points for the winner), aiming to finish by 6 o'clock.

A total of 30 games were played: four AC and 26 GC.

By shortly before five o'clock, there were three joint leaders: Robert Inder (who had won two games of AC) and John Graham (who had won four games of GC) were joined by Vivien Wightman, who came from behind at the last minute to add an AC victory over Roger Binks to her two previous GC wins.

After some discussion, Vivien switched back to Golf Croquet against Jean Forshall, while John said he was keen to try his hand at Assocation against Robert.  By 6:10, when time was called in Robert's AC gaime against John, most people had left - no doubt aware of the increasingly threatening  weather.  Robert finished his final break by failing a (rather ambitous) attempt to run rover, leaving him ahead peg and rover against rover and four.  John, though, was up to the challenge, and managed to hit in and take his second ball to peg to tie the match!

Robert hit in, but with his peg ball, which meant that it was going to be at least ten minutes before the game would be decided.  By now, though, it was after 6:20, heavy rain was looking increasingly likely, and Joan and Jean (who were having to wait around to lock up) were making it clear that they wanted to get things packed away before the weather broke.

In the circumstances, Robert and John agreed to declare the AC game a draw, worth one point each.

Vivien, though, had not been idle during their contest, and while their AC game had been in progress, she had not only won her game against Jean, but had also played and won another very tight game against Joan Marshall.

As a result, Robert and John finished the day with 5 points each, ahead of Jackie Shannon and Frances Dunn with 4 points, but behind Vivien, who finished the day with six points (four from GC, and two from AC), making her the overall winner.

Robert Inder