Sandra Guildford won the GC All England

[<<] [>>]

Sandra Guildford receiving the GC All England trophy

The Final weekend for the GC All England Handicap began in cool but sunny weather at Guildford and Godalming CC. 14 players gathered together with hopes of taking home the trophy after hard fought games spread over the two days.

This was the second year that the competition was played to Advantage rules so the players were accustomed to the use of starting scores and having the correct number of pegs needed for the hoops they must score. We were fortunate to have a referee for each lawn to help players and to monitor timing. Many thanks go to Richard Carline (ROT), Peter Adams, Andrew Jackson and Mike Huxley for giving up their time to act as referees.

Competitors had handicaps ranging from 2 to 12, so starting scores were often challenging for the lower handicapped players. The most extreme was Ray Ore (Cheam) playing off 2 against Sandra Guildford (Woking) playing off 12 - starting score -4 to +2! A win to Sandra followed!

At the end of day one all players had won at least two games. John Richmond (Cheam) and Sandra were both on 4 wins and Fiona Hancock (Kington Langley), John Picken (Ashby), Patricia Mulcahy (Phyllis Court) and Richard Perkins (GGCC) were all on 5 wins out of 7. The tournament was still wide open.

On day two players arrived in good time for a prompt start - there was work to be done! By lunch time 3 games had been played and Cliff Hunter (Surbiton) and Sandra had each won all 3 games.

The leader board was then showing two players on 7 wins (John Picken and Sandra) with Patricia, Gareth Hobby (Caversham), Richard and Cliff each on 6 wins. Still all to play for.

In fact with the ups and downs of Advantage croquet nothing is to be taken for granted. As the players went into the final game Sandra and Richard were both on 8 wins and Clff, Patricia and Fiona were all on 7 wins. There was still time for a surprise winner.

However Sandra held her nerve to get the ninth win (result 7-6) while Richard lost out in his last game (result 6-7). Patricia, Cliff and Richard all ended on 8 wins and the manager - with the help of a trusty calculator and Mike Huxley (the score keeper) did the maths to find the final order of the day.

1^st Sandra Guildford

2^nd Patricia Mulcahy

3^rd Cliff Hunter

4^th Richard Perkins

There then followed 6 players all on 7 wins.

What a close call!