32 teams gathered in the early spring sunshine at Oxshott Pétanque Club just off Junction 9 of the M25 in Surrey for the Open Cash Triples..
Organised by David Plumhoff, there was a really vibrant feel as players gathered for another season opener with players travelling from as far afield as Jersey and Scotland to compete.
The Oxshott Club are always superb hosts and their two tiers of pitches offer a rapid, hard and smooth surface on the lower level with a fine gravel, softer surface on the top level.
Once the eight morning qualifying leagues of four teams each had concluded, the knockout stage got underway after the usual nice lunch provided by Jeff in the clubhouse.
League winners went into the Gold, runners-up into the Silver, third place into the Bronze and 4th place into the Plate.
Gold competition
The final four teams in the Gold faced off in the semi-finals, where David Plumhoff, Sean Prendergast, Callum Lombard & Jack Blows prevailed over Dean Ashby, Keith Atkinson & Trevor Gordon. The other semi final contest was won by Rowland Jones, Jason White & Marc Franco Llado who defeated Stephen Daykin, Phil Bradshaw & Kai Sheffield.
In the Final, which was livestreamed and can be watched below on P365’s YouTube channe, Team Blows were in control throughout, eventually recording a comfortable 13-4 victory over Team Jones.
The first two opening competitions at Gravesend and Oxshott have revealed strong performances by Kai Sheffield, David Plumhoff, Callum Lombard, Dean Ashby and Jason White who have been involved in Finals and Semi Finals at both events.
It’s all shaping up for some interesting showdowns in the SSE which will find England international representation, with the precise format yet to be announced by Pétanque England.
Lower competitions
The Silver final was played out in almost darkness and had to be moved to a lower level pitch with lighting. The Jersey team of Andrew Bellamy-Burt, Gary Cowburn & Wendy Ritzema were victorious in a hard fought 13-7 victory over the Sussex team of Tony Mann, Csaba Molnar & Peter Williams.
It was an all Kent affair in the Bronze final for 5 of the 6 players as Marcus Hickman, Alex & Tom Bruce defeated Tim Edwins, Aston Monk & Drew Roe – a surprise for many to see both those teams in the Bronze, although that’s two Bronze wins in a row for Hickman!
The final competition, the Plate, was contested between Sonya Davis, John West & David Mowl versus Colin Hersey, Chris Turner and, late replacement for a drop out, Ann Pickering. The former being victorious in a long final.
Next Open of note will be the Triples at Worthing PC on 23rd March, where no doubt many of players seen at Gravesend and Oxshott will be competing again as the preparation for the 2025 season continues.
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