Having cut our teeth at
a few different venues over the last couple of years, October
2009 saw us make our first visit to what was one of the traditional
locations for Carpet Bowls holidays, the Isle of Wight, for our
10th event.
The venue was the Trouville
Hotel in Sandown and with no one having run a Carpet Bowls holiday
there before, we were not absolutely certain how well it was
going to work.
Having said that the hotel
is a popular location for Short Mat Bowls and we had the benefit
of being able to use their bowls hall which is nicely located
on the first floor of the hotel with a lovely sea view.
And, although it was a bit
of a squeeze, we were able to fit all six carpets in, rather
than having to split them up and downstairs, making for a much
better, much cozier, atmosphere.
The event itself was, as usual,
for Pairs. A total of 36 Pairs were competing, a number which
was slightly down from our initial bookings, due to a few people
having fallen ill.
Everyone would get 5 round
robin game over the course of Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday
mornings. After that the top 12 teams would go through to the
Knockout stages. Of those qualifiers, just to make things a little
more interesting and competitive, the Top 4 would go straight
through to the Quarter Finals, while the teams finishing 5th
to 12th would go into the First Round of matches to decide who
would join the Top 4 in the last eight.
Round 1 (Tuesday)
16 of the 36 teams won their first games, 7 of which already
had shots in the double figures.
The first pair to head the
leaderboard were Marion & Peter Hayde who amassed
all of 18 shots in their first game. Even with all those shots
they were only one ahead of Peter & Kay Masters.
Two teams were on 13 shots,
Grace & Brian Crump and Eva Rolfe & Margaret
Moore, while two more teams were on 12 shots, Margaret
Turner & Paul Daniels and Patricia Phillips &
Brian Archer.
Round 2 (Tuesday)
Close of play on Tuesday saw the teams with perfect records already
wittled down to a just 9 and with 3 more teams on 3 points. That
already told us that anyone dropping no more than 1 point over
the 3 days would see themselves through to the Knockout Rounds.
Marion & Peter Hayde where still leading, on 26 shots,
with Dot & Syd Tanner now up to second, on 24 shots.
Margaret Turner & Paul
Daniels had now edged
up to third with 23 shots, Grace & Brian Crump were
on 21 and in 5th place Margaret & David Clemmet had
20 shots from their 2 wins.
The remaining teams with 2
wins out of 2 were Eva Rolfe & Margaret Moore, Mike
& Judy Easy, Colin & Jean Love and Joe
& Irene Woodward.
Round 3 (Wednesday)
There was just a single
game for each team on Wednesday, but it was nonetheless enough
to knock several more teams off the leading pace.
And things were tighter than
ever at the top with the top four teams now seperated by a mere
2 shots. Still out in front were Marion & Peter Hayde
who had taken their third win out of three, but they were now
joined by Dot & Syd Tanner, both teams having accumulated
33 shots. Just behind, on 32 shots, were Margaret & David
Clemmet and Margaret Turner & Paul Daniels on
31 shots.
Two further teams were still
on maximum points, Joe & Irene Woodward and Colin
& Jean Love, while two more had dropped just 1 point
and a further 8 were on 4 points.
At this stage it was looking
as if anyone who could get 8 points from their 5 games would
be certain to go through.
Round 4 (Thursday)
Thursday morning would
see the last couple of games for everyone before the qualifiers
were decided and it was time for a bit of a shakeup.
Only 3 teams made it through
their 4th games with 4 wins. Dot & Syd Tanner were
now top with 8 points and 45 shots, while Margaret & David
Clemmet were now second, 2 shots behind. Marion &
Peter Hayde had slipped slightly from the top spot which
they had held all along and were now third, still unbeaten and
with 40 shots.
All these top three how already
done enough to qualify and anyone who finished their 5 games
with at least 8 points would also be going through.
The top 5 at this stage were
rounded out by 2 teams who had dropped just one point, Margaret
Turner & Paul Daniels and Grace & Brian Crump.
Round 5 (Thursday)
The top three teams
remained much as they were, each of them winning to finish on
10 points. Marion & Peter Hayde moved back into the
top spot, followed by Dot & Syd Tanner in second and
Margaret & David Clemmet in third.
Margaret Turner & Paul
Daniels were the only
other team not to have lost a game, dropping just 1 point, and
finishing 4th, the last of the automatic qualifiers.
Three teams finished on 8 points,
Margaret & Jim Southgate, Joe & Irene Woodward
and Lynne & Alistair Kermath and the remaining qualifying
spots were taken by all of the teams who finished on 7 points.
Knockout Rounds
With the top 4 teams
straight through to the Quarter Finals the next 8 would play
off to decide who would join them in the last 8.
First Round
The game between Joe & Irene Woodward and John
James & Jean Hinton was tit for tat all the way up to
the penultimate end. With 5 ends played it was 3-3, but John
& Jean took 3 on that 6th end and one on the last to win
3-7.
Lynne & Alistair Kermath were 3-2 ahead of Heather Driver
& Yvonne Brook with 4 ends down, but Heather & Yvonne
took 2 shots on the 5th end to take the lead for the first time
after which they never lost it, finally winning 6-3.
Margaret & Jim Southgate's game against Ken Drane &
Valerie Game was closely fought all the way. Margaret &
Jim were 4-2 up with 2 ends to go, but the game swung first to
Ken & Val as they took 3 shots to take the lead and then
back again to the Southgates as they took 2 on the last end to
finish 6-5 up.
Grace & Brian Crump took on Mike & Judy Easy
in the final First Round game and it was yet another close match.
The 2 shot lead that the Easys took into the last end was as
much of a gap as there was between the two teams at any stage
of the game, but it was enough for them to hold on to win 5-4.
Quarter Finals
Margaret Turner & Paul Daniels took on Margaret & Jim Southgate
in a match that was closer than the final result would indicate.
For the most part there was just one shot an end being scored,
but they all went Margaret & Paul's way as they finished
10-0 winners.
Heather Driver & Yvonne
Brook were 3 shots
ahead of Margaret & David Clemmet after 2 ends, but
that was it for them as the Clemmets won all the remaining ends
to run out 9-3 winners.
Mike & Judy Easy took the lead right from the start
in their game against Marion & Peter Hayde and never
looked back, finally winning 9-6 to cause the first real upset
by beating the Haydes who had finished on top after the initial
stages.
Dot & Syd Tanner took control of their game against
John James & Jean Hinton early on with 4 shots on
the first end. And although that lead was back to just a single
shot after a couple more ends, they never relinquished the lead
and went on to win 8-5.
Semi Finals
Although Mike & Judy Easy won the first end of their
game against Margaret Turner & Paul Daniels, they
lost the second end and the subsequent 3, racing out to a 10-1
lead and finally finishing 11-2 winners.
Dot & Syd Tanner against took the upper hand early as
they took on Margaret & David Clemmet. The 4 shots
which they took over the first 2 ends held them in good stead
as they finished 7-3 ahead.
Final
Dot & Syd Tanner took
a decisive 5-1 lead over their opponents Margaret Turner &
Paul Daniels, 4 ends into the final. Margaret & Paul
reduced the margin to just 2 shots on the next end, but Dot &
Syd won the penultimate end to go into the last end 6-3 up. In
the end it came down to a measure on the final end, but Margaret
& Paul could only manage 2 shots, leaving the Tanners winners
by a score of 6-5.
The full results of the week's
bowling can be found here. |
Many thanks to everyone for making our first trip to the Isle
of Wight every bit as successful and as enjoyable as we had hoped
it would be, and once again for your generosity in helping us
to raise another £150 for Macmillan
Cancer Support.
tanddcarpetbowls@gmail.com
23rd
October 2009 |