David & Eileen Magee won the British Mixed Doubles Championship

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The British Mixed Doubles Championship was held at Edgbaston on Saturday 12th August. Two pairs, Eileen & David Magee and Julie Hudson & Chris Daniels battled it out for these prestigious Croquet Association trophies which go back to 1899 and hold the names of many famous croquet personalities.

The match was played best of three with traditional time limits of 4 hours, 3 hours and 2 hours. With the lawns very fast after the recent dry conditions, all three games went to time and all provided exciting finishes. Chris and Julie took the first +2T. In the second, things were looking bad for the Magees, but Eileen found an excellent break from 3 to peg. With the scores level at time, David hit a ball in corner 4 from the north boundary and finished, making the score +5. In the final game the score was levelled after time, necessitating a sudden death finish. With two opposing clips on 1 back and 4 back and the lift to consider, Eileen found herself approaching 1 back with Chris's ball, also for 1 back. Fortunately an excellent approach shot gave her a not too nerve-racking hoop, and victory was clinched.

Bernard Neal, President of The Croquet Association, was on hand to present the trophies to David and Eileen.