The 2024 Carol Hayward AC handicap singles competition was played at United Croquet Club over five Tuesday mornings from 6 February to 5 March. The weather was good each day.

Each morning an 18-point game was played with a time limit of two and a half hours with a break halfway for morning tea and a chat.

A total of 12 players entered the event with the manager, John Yarrall, filling in if there were an odd number of players. Thanks to Tony O’Donnell who filled in as manager on one day.

The format was flexible Swiss to allow players the option of not playing any week. Four games had to be played to be considered for a place.

After four rounds, three players were on 75% so a count back was inevitable. Full results are at https://croquetscores.com/2024/ac/carol-hayward.

The winner was Sue Stott for the third time winning 4 out of five games. Gay Jones was runner up also with four out of five wins, but with net hoops of 37 compared to Sue’s 41. Although opposition strength was not declared for tie-breaking, the average strength of Sue’s opponents was 58% compared to 55% for Gay.

Both Lyn Dawson and Tony O’Donnell had three wins out of five and both had 11 net points. The strength of Lyn’s opponents was 46% and Tony’s 44%.

For future years, consideration needs to be given to the means of resolving ties, using some combination of strength of opponents, who beat whom and net points.

Many thanks to Ryman for continuing to sponsor these events.

The GC Open Singles was held on Sunday, 11^th February at Fendalton Park Croquet Club.

Heavy rain the night before left one lawn unplayable until later in the morning. With a field of 16 playing a round robin in two blocks, double-banking was the order of the day. Players were happy to use our fifth lawn during the early rounds, until Lawn 2 became available, so as not to delay the finish.

Mike, the groundsman said the hoop holes were filled with water when he arrived on Sunday morning. Knowing the hammering the hoops would get he packed them for the start of the day, and had to repeat the procedure before the final rounds.

Although cold there was very little rain. Some of the younger men braved it all day in shorts while the older folk were adding layers. The sun was shining at 5.30 for the finals.

In Block 1 after six rounds Duncan Dixon and Josh Winter had each won six games, and met each other in Round 7. It was a close hard fought game with Josh taking it 7/6.  In Block 2 after six rounds Levi Franks and Paul Kaiser had each won six games, and met each other in Round 7. Not as close a game, Levi won 7/4.

The final between the two Cashmere chums was a repeat of the Premier Grades. Levi overcame Josh 7/4 and took the title which Josh had won the previous two seasons. On the other lawn the two United men, Duncan and Paul were battling it out for 3^rd and 4^th.  Duncan took this one 7/2.

Full results are at https://croquetscores.com/2024/gc/canterbury-nz-open-singles.

Reasonable weather with good lawns drew three contestants from South Canterbury and made for an enjoyable tournament. With five entries, the 0 to 3.5 grade played a round robin of five games. The 4 to 9 grade, with four entries, a round robin of three games with a finals round deciding the placings from first to fourth. With thanks to John Doyle agreeing to “play up”, there were four entries in the combined 10 to 24 grade who played the same game format as the 4 to 9 grade.

The Cashmere “young guns” swept the board, each of them winning their four games in each grade Josh Winter the 0 to 3.5 grade, Levi Franks the 4 to 9 grade and James Duggan the 10 to 24 combined grade. They were also awarded the Silver Badge for their respective grade and Gay Jones won the 18 to 24 grade. Runners-up in the three grades were John Hearnshaw, Leo van Oosten and Sue Stott.

The grades tournament for premier, senior and intermediate players was held in hot conditions on Sunday November 12th.

St Martins hosted the Premier and Intermediate divisions while the Seniors played at Cashmere. Players from as far afield as Blenheim and Queenstown competed against our locals.

The Premier division was won by Levi Franks beating Joshua Winter 7/3 in a 13 point Final. In the preliminary round Joshua had taken the 19 point game over Levi 10/8. The Final had been reduced to a shorter game to avoid finishing in the dark. A long day at the office.

The Senior division at Cashmere was first to finish. The eventual winner was Terry Green ( Rangiora) over Patrick Conolly ( Cashmere). Earlier in the day these two had been down the list but came through at the end with Terry winning 7/5.

The Intermediate division was won by Brent Cowan (Holmes Park) beating Diana McIlwrick (Wakatipu) 7/4. Brent who still works full time and plays only occasionally was overcome by his win. He qualified 4th after the round robin, but won his semi- final 7/4 to reach the final.

The winners are also winners of the Silver badges.

Hi all 

The event was held at St Martins Croquet Club on Sunday 29 October 2023 in fine weather albeit with the dreaded easterly wind. 

A field of 20 players contested for the title and Silver Badge. This year we had players representing 8 Canterbury Clubs and also a player from Waireka Club in Ashburton. 

With the All Blacks game also being played everyone arrived on time and games were underway by 8:30am   This was not a distraction to the excellent games that were played throughout the day. It was encouraging to have a number of players, new to CCA tournaments and we look forward to them playing in more events. 

Thanks to all players, assistant manager Janet Scott, referees John Borner and Sylvia MacFarlane and St Martins Croquet Club members for morning and afternoon teas

Results:
Winner: Derek Kinley, Cashmere (centre)
Runnerup: Cathrine Boyle, St James (left)
Third: Geraldine Lummis, Fendalton (right)

Cheers
Gay

Canterbury (NZ) GC Singles Advantage Sunday 24 September 2023

Well, this tournament has been quite a challenge, but all worked out well in the end.

There was an original field of 30 players which gave a format of 5 blocks of 6 with players having 5 rounds of play followed by quarters, semis and finals. Two venues were needed so Cashmere stepped up as the second venue with Gay Jones as manager. However, the day before the tournament I had three withdrawals due to ill-health and there was a big question mark over lawns able to be used because of weather. So plenty of last minute re-arrangements and discussions and decisions. Two replacements stepped up to play so I ended up with 4 blocks of 6 and one block of 5. And late on Saturday afternoon the decision was made to go ahead on the lawns at both venues.

Add to the mix that Sunday was daylight saving time, so players had to ensure they arrived on time…and they all did!

There was a lot of learning using the Advantage format, but players took it all in their stride and there were some very close games with players going to the 14^th hoop for the last point. I must thank the players for their sportsmanship and cheerfulness in the event of some rain disruption during the day and having three of the games scheduled at Cashmere having to be played at Fendalton as lawns at Cashmere were unplayable after midday. However, we managed to get the top 8 players identified and were able to continue with quarters, semis and finals.

Jill Smithies from United did not lose a game during the day, except in the final against Terry Green from Rangiora when she lost 7-6 at the 14^th hoop. A great game to watch and congratulations to Terry Green for becoming the GC Singles Advantage winner for 2023. Carol Pilbrough from United beat Vince van den Dorpe from Rangiora to take third place.

Full results are on croquet scores.

My thanks go to Grace Leitch who was assistant Manager for me at Fendalton, to Gay Jones for managing and being second referee at Cashmere and helping in all the discussions, to Mike Dawson and Tim Slack for being the referees at Fendalton and to Sylvia Macfarlane for being referee at Cashmere. My thanks also go to those folk who looked after the catering at each venue, it was great.

Vilna Gough-Jones
Tournament Manager

The CCA Agnes Dick Handicap Doubles competition was held at the Elmwood park club on the weekend of the 13-14 March.

Eight pairs in two groups contested the trophy over the two days in an event somewhat affected by a very wet first day.  Those who had difficulty with the heavy conditions were disadvantaged by the rain. 

The final was contested between Steve Costigan and Leonie Clarke (from Fendalton) and the husband and wife pairing of Alister and Hilda Newey (Rangiora).  The trophy was won (22-12) by Steve and Leonie.

Full results at https://croquetscores.com/2023/ac/agnes-dick-hcap-doublers

The Don Reyland Stars is a handicap GC competition with club and association playoffs and a national final.

The final was held 16 to 19 March at the Rangatira Croquet Club in Dannevirke that was established in 1911. Day 1 warm, Day 2 showers all day, Day 3 clear and warm.
Sixteen associations were represented.

Patrick Conolly from Cashmere, representing CCA won the tournament, with one loss from 15 matches. Runner up was Doug Cowie from Auckland who he beat on Hoop 13 with a tricky angle jump shot.

Full results are on Croqet Scores at https://croquetscores.com/2023/gc/cnz-don-reyland-stars-handicap-tournament