SCA B-Level (Middle Bisquers) 2013

15-16 June 2013, Alexandra Park

There were seven entrants for the 2013 Middle Bisquers tournament, with handicaps ranging from 4.5 to 18: Robert Inder, Janice Duguid, Jamieson Walker, Joe Lennon, Hamish Duguid, Robert Lay and Jola Jurasinska.

It was originally intended to run the event in a seven-round all-play-all format.  But because the Duguids did not expect to be available until Saturday afternoon, there would not have been quite enough time for all seven rounds to be completed, and so it was decided to play the tournament as a "flexible swiss".

Because they could not play on Saturday morning, Hamish and Janice played each other during the week before the tournament.  A further 17 games were played over the weekend, making 18 in all - three short of the 21 needed for a seven-player all-play-all.  Of these, 12 were won outright, and 6 were decided on time, 4 of them by either one or two points.

Playing conditions over the weekend exhibited the full range of Scottish summer weather.  Saturday was frankly horrible - windy, rainy and cold - and just hitting a ball to the far end of the lawn felt like a major achievement.  Sunday, in contrast, was a day of light breezes and brilliant sunshine, and by the close of play the lawns, though still slow, were far less of a challenge.

In the end, though, the tournament was decided before the weekend even began, by a mistake in the very first game.  Janice peeled Hamish's lead ball through Rover, but in the process of pegging it out, accidentally pegged out her own ball as well.  This left Hamish 3 hoops ahead (4-back versus 1-back) -- a lead he managed to maintain until he pegged out.  And so it was Hamish, rather than Janice, who finished the tournament unbeaten,  and took home the quaich.

Unsurprisingly, their solid performances over the weekend meant that Hamish and Janice both achieved handicap reductions, to 8 and 6 respectively.

Final standings were:
Hamish  (5 from 5)     Beat Janice, Jamieson, Robert I, Joe, Jola
Janice  (4 from 5)     Beat Jamieson, Robert I, Jola, Robert L
Jamieson  (3 from 5)     Beat Robert I, Joe, Jola
Robert I  (3 from 6)     Beat Joe, Jola, Robert L
Joe  (2 from 5)     Beat Jola, Robert L
Jola  (1 from 6)     Beat Robert L
Robert L  (0 from 4)

Robert Inder