East v West v North of Scotland 2016
4-5 June, Kelvingrove
Two days of uninterrupted sun, excellent lawns that got increasingly fast over the event and two teams playing a mix of AC handicap doubles, handicap singles and Golf Croquet. Only two teams I hear you cry! The East were a 'no-show' over both days for reasons unknown. This was a real pity given the efforts of the North team to field a team in Glasgow over both days.
The event was organised in a similar manner to previous years with the exception of the scoring system; AC games were awarded 3 points for a win and GC a single point. This change was made to reflect the difference in competition time between AC and GC games.
After 18 games the event was eventually won by the North with a total of 28 points and the West were runners up with 16 points. The event was a first for James Thompson (W) who playing off a handicap of 20 and managed a win against John Owen (N) and a close finish against Bill Strachan (N) who eventually won by a single point. The West were also pleased to field Sue Truman, an out of town member (New Zealand - you can't get much further out of town) who also managed two AC singles wins for West. Overall though the North team performed better in both AC and GC games and ran out clear winners by the Sunday afternoon.
So the North team retain the Piersland Rosebowl and promised they would remember to bring it to the event next year! A suggestion for next year: each region should appoint a captain who has responsibility for selecting and fielding a team over both days of the event.
Brian Durward
Association Croquet
Handicap Doubles
John Owen and Bill Strachan (N) beat Kevin Wright & James Thomson (W) 26-13
Brian Durward and Kevin Wright (W) beat Brian Clark and Malcolm Robertson 26 - 14
Handicap Singles
Sue Truman (W) beat Brian Clark (N) 18-9
Malcolm Robertson (N) beat Brian Durward (W) 23-11
James Thomson (W) beat John Owen (N) 26-15
Bill Strachan (N) beat Kevin Wright (W) 15-9
Brian Durward (W) beat Brian Strachan (N) 26-12
Sue Truman (W) beat Malcolm Robertson (N) 12-7
Bill Strachan (N) beat James Thomson 16-15
John Owen (N) beat Kevin Wright (W) 14-10
Brian Clark (N) beat Joe Lennon (W) 26-23
Lyn Gilpin (N) beat Brian Durward (W) 26-8
Malcolm Robertson (N) beat Kevin Wright (W) 17-12
Golf Croquet
Joe Lennon (W) beat Lyn Gilpin (N) 7-6
Bill Strachan (N) beat Marion Imrie (W) 7-3
Lyn Gilpin and Bill Strachan (N) beat Joe Lennon and Marion Imrie 7-4
Lyn Gilpin (N) beat Marion Imrie 7-4
Bill Strachan (N) beat Joe Lennon (W) 7-2
Postscript
The event also saw the launch of the Glasgow e-Peg.
To quote Malcolm Robertson "what a ridiculous use of sophisticated electronics and I had to wait 10 seconds for the lights to go off before I could peg out me second ball". Lyn liked it though!