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)
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 14th 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 14th 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
Terry running hoop 7 with Jill looking onJill hitting up to hoop 8, Terry having won hoop 7Vilna with TerryVince, Vilna, Terry, Jill and Carol
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.
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.
The CCA GC Open Doubles tournament was held on Sunday 12th at Cashmere Croquet Club. Following heavy dew the day turned sunny and warm, cooling down as play continued into the early evening.
Four doubles combinations entered, and the format was a best of three round- robin with the potential for nine games. As it turned out each combination played eight so it was a big day at the office.
Geoff Price (United) and Helen Webber (Hornby) combined to be a winning combination. Not having played together before they soon got to know each other’s play and surprised with a 7/5, 5/7, 7/6 win over St James combination of Jono Hart and Marguaritte Rogers. Both had their chances at the thirteenth, with Geoff taking it with a short, angled jump shot.
Meanwhile on the other lawn the Barrington pairing of Rachael McLeod and Marie McDonald had a shock 7/6 win over Gay Jones (Cashmere) and Sue Cleveland (Geraldine) in the first game. Gay and Sue prevailed 7/4, 7/4 in the next two games to take the match.
Round 2 was a quicker affair with Jono and Marguaritte overcoming Rachael and Marie in two games, 7/4, 7/4. Geoff and Helen again surprised with 7/6, 7/1 wins over Gay and Sue.
With two matches under their belt Geoff and Helen were leading the tournament when they faced Rachael and Marie in the final round but needed a match win if the winner was not to be decided on a countback. The Barrington girls took the first game 7/3 and Geoff and Helen followed up with a similar score in game 2. Taking the third game 7/5 they ended the day with three match wins and the title. Gay and Sue, after winning their match with Jono and Marguaritte, were runner–up.
The bi-annual South Island Association’s GC Teams Event will be held at Waireka Croquet Club, Ashburton on Saturday 18 and Sunday 19 March.
One player from each grade; Premier, Advanced (Senior), Intermediate and Primary are selected by each Association. The Association competing this year are Canterbury, South Canterbury, Marlborough, Nelson and Otago.
Congratulations to the following players from Canterbury: Levi Franks, Geoff Price, Mike Bunce and Geraldine Murphy
The criteria for selection was that players had played in a CNZ or CCA event and the results achieved throughout the season and were available to play this weekend.
Finally, after two postponements the Primary Grades were played on 10th March in sunshine albeit at 8:30am there were a few spots of rain.
A field of 26 players representing 9 Clubs were divided into blocks with two being played at Cashmere and 4 at St Martins. All players managed 5 games before the 2 semi-finalists from Cashmere joined the St Martins semi-finalists at St Martins.
The semi-final games of Patsy Clegg v Graeme Johnston (St James) was won by Graeme 7 – 4 and the other between Herman Zegerman (Hornby) and Steve Stokes (Cashmere) saw Steve win 7 – 5.
The final and the 3rd and 4th playoffs were watched by many players and supporters.
Well done to Steve Stokes who prevailed in the final over Graeme Johnston 7 – 4. It was a hard fought game with both players starting to feel the effect of the sun and their 7th game. Patsy took third place in another great game against Herman.
It was pleasing to have entrants from players new to tournaments and also the number of Clubs represented.
Thanks to all players, to St Martins for hosting the event and Cashmere as second venue, referees Sylvia MacFarlane, Vilna Gough-Jones and Bruce McLay who were kept busy, kitchen staff at both venues for the fabulous morning and afternoon teas, the lawns setters on the day and last but not least the grounds people for the wonderful playing lawns which were appreciated by all players.
The CCA Open GC Singles Tournament was played on Sunday 26th February at Cashmere Croquet club. We welcomed one player from Geraldine, all the 11 others were from round town. There was a good spread of handicaps, from -4 to 7, so everyone had opportunity to play against others of a similar level.
We kicked off bright and early in slightly overcast conditions. Despite the gloomy forecast the weather progressively improved and it became a very pleasant day on the lawns. Play started with two round-robin blocks to sort out initial rankings, followed by playoffs between similarly ranked players in each block. The top four players then went into a semi-final/final challenge. Patrick Connolly and John Borner battled it out for 3rd place with John winning 7-3, and Josh Winter prevailed over Levi Franks in the final 10-6 to win the 1st and 2nd placings.
Overall it was a full day with the finals finishing early evening.
The Carol Hayward competition was sponsored by the Margaret Stoddart retirement village. It is a handicap association croquet event open to players over the age of 60 years.
As usual, it was held over six Tuesday mornings from 31 January to 7 March 2023. One 18-point 21/2 hour game is played each morning with a break for a well-catered morning tea. It is run as a flexible Swiss so players can choose to play each week. A player must complete at least five games to be elligible for a prize.
We were fortunate to have good weather for all games.
It was a small field this year with 14 entering the competition with the number of games each week varying from four to six.
Sue Stott won all six of her games to take the trophy. Tim Slack was beaten only by Sue and was runner-up. John Doyle won three out of five games to take third place.
Lyn Dawson spoke about Margaret Stoddart providing respite care of her husband so she can play croquet and do other activities.
John Yarrall managed the competition and played one game when there were an odd number of players.
The 2023 AC Open was played at Barrington Park Croquet Club. It was initially scheduled to be played over three days from Friday 3 March 2023, but was reduced to the weekend because only six players entered.
It was played as a single block with three 3-hour games Saturday and two games scheduled for Sunday. Owen Evans played Joshua Winter on Friday as Owen was not available Sunday afternoon. The lawns were on the slow side and hoops were set to 0.8mm clearance.
John Yarrall was the tournament manager who also played.
In spite of the forecast rain, Saturday was dry, if overcast and grey. The highlight of the day was Joshua Winter completing his first triple peel to earn a gold merit award.
Sunday started wet, and an effort was required to get the length of the lawns. Rain was intermittent, but got heavier late morning.
The fourth-round decider between Joshua and Jarrod created interest. Josh pegged out Jarrod’s and his ball with Josh on 1-back and Jarrod on hoop 5. When both balls were on 3-back an impass developed, requiring a study of the laws before the game was restarted. Jarrod finally won the game 26-23.
When Jarrod started his final-round game with Peter Parkinson, the rain increased making play impractical. At this stage, Peter withdrew leaving Jarrod on four wins out of four games to win and Josh on three wins out of four as runner-up.
Croquet Canterbury 