Richard Huxley wins the Nottingham Advanced Weekend

[<<] [>>] by Ian Lines at Nottingham
7th September (AC)

A full field of 24, with handicaps ranging from -2 to 2, entered the Advanced Weekend at Nottingham, which was run as a very flexible Swiss to ensure that no-one was sitting out for more than a short time.

At the end of Saturday, a number of players had only recorded one loss, but Andrew Winn and Ian Vincent were both undefeated with 3 wins from 3 games. They duly played on Sunday morning and Ian continued to play well to beat Andrew in a very tense +2 finish. This left Ian Vincent on 4/4 with Richard Huxley and Ian Lines both having reached 4/5. Richard duly played Ian Vincent, and Ian looked for a good while like he was going to win and take the trophy undefeated on 5/5, but Richard hit his last lift with minutes to go and duly won +4, taking him to 5/6, and into a playoff with Ian Lines (also now on 5/6). The playoff was played as a standard game, but with all 4 clips starting on rover. Richard hit 4^th turn, and finished very tidily in his next turn to claim the Memento Mori Trophy. Perhaps all clips starting on 4 back (giving a lift) would have been a more interesting/interactive playoff.

The lawns at Nottingham were in excellent condition considering the weather over the summer, and were playing fairly easily. Ian Lines had 4 triples, Rick Harding had 2 and Annabel had 1, and almost all games finished within time, with the flexible Swiss format ensuring a good number of well-matched games - though keeping the Manager quite busy.

As always, the club provided fantastic lunches and teas, and many of the players enjoyed a traditional evening meal (and a few drinks) at the Vic.

Full results are at https://croquetscores.com/2026/ac/nottingham-advanced-weekend