As England enjoyed a glorious sunny end to March and British Summer Time arrived, there was once again some great early season play going on in different parts of our country.
In London, at the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens not far from the Oval Cricket Ground, a third round EuroCup tie was played between Baldock Town B and London 2.
Facing the London 2 team of Louise Waterfield, Julia Dehoff-Bourne, Josh Freeborn, Allan Stevenson, Mark Hadsell, Tom Reed, Adrian Costa Oliva and Billy Wyatt was the Baldock B selection of Myra Emson, Charlotte Huntley, Adrian Emson, Ollie Zimmerman, Ameen Miah and Jamie Lewis.
In the Triples, Allan Josh and Mark won 13-4 against Myra, Adrian and Jamie, while Adrian, Tom and Louise defeated Charlotte, Ollie and Ameen by the same score.
Although the doubles pairings of Myra and Adrian edged out Josh and Allan 13-11, and Charlotte and Jamie won convincingly 13-0 against Mark and Louise, the tie was decided in the match between Adrian and Tom versus Ollie and Ameen, with the London duo chalking up a great 13-4 win.
Whitnash Weekend
Meanwhile up at the Whitnash Club, they hosted a weekend of competitive play for the second week running with the club’s traditional Spring event comprising Triples on the Saturday and Doubles on the Sunday.
An excellent turnout of 32 teams on each day underscored the nice participation seen at Open Competitions as the 2025 season swings into action.
In the Triples, the day was won by Tim Edwins, Dean Webb and Glen Woodward (on home pitch) who were victorious 13-10 against Jason White, Dean Ashby and Kai Sheffield, who on recent form would have been the pre-match favourites. It shows that no outcome is guaranteed in competitive pétanque. That’s a great win for the Kent/Thames Valley/Heart of England trio!
In the Doubles, the following day, four of the Triples finalists faced each other in the final, but this time it was Kai and Jason that won, with a convincing 13-2 victory against Tim and Dean.
It was also great to see our young players competing again, they’ve certainly been a constant presence on the pitch as 2025 kicks off! The best result was achieved by Aimee Rickman and Amy Geddes who got through to the Silver Semi Final in the Doubles.
Well done to the Whitnash club for hosting another great weekend of sport.
Over 50’s at Rainworth
England’s more mature players also enjoyed a terrific day’s competition at Rainworth in Nottinghamshire at the third round of the Over 50’s Grand Prix Series organised by Classic Pétanque Events.
At the conclusion of the 24-team tournament, Team Blyton came out on top with 5 wins in a very close battle with runners up Team Edmondson who had another great GP winning all 5 games.
Congratulations to the team at Rainworth PC who were brilliant hosts and thanks to Hilary Kidd who ran the competition administration.
The final GP of this year’s event will be at Ben’s Yard near Ely, Cambridgeshire on 13th April where there are currently 24 teams registered. If any other teams wish to join in what will undoubtedly be another great day, the deadline for registration is 5pm on Saturday 5th April via the organiser martininglis@hotmail.co.uk
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