Hugh Carlisle won the Hurlingham Veterans AC Tournament

[<<] [>>] by Andrew Wise at Hurlingham
15-17 Sep 2020 (AC)

18 contestants aged 60 and over with handicaps from -1 to 16 played handicap advanced, with a leisurely two games per day. All rounds involved pre-assigned matches, based on the principle of minimising bisques given or received. COVID security was maintained. Fine weather prevailed.

Game results were scored on the Oxford rating system as used for Egyptian competitions: start at 100, plus or minus 5 between players with similar ratings, more or less than 5 between players with significantly different ratings. This scoring method takes account of the quality of each game, ties are unlikely and hoop points are not used. Results were emailed at the end of each day.

At the start of the final round just two players were in contention: Hugh Carlisle (Hurlingham) with five wins and John Reddish (Norwich) with four. With matches being pre-assigned coincidentally there was no play-off between them, but it was good to watch their final games on adjacent lawns, Hugh vs John Bowcott and John vs Veronica Carlisle. Neither succumbed to the pressure. Hugh prevailed in a fascinating pegged out ending, manoeuvring his two balls to keep out of John's way, wiring whenever possible and setting up good rushes to his next hoop.

Thus Hugh secured first place with a magnificent run of six wins and a final rating of 125. John took second place with an impressive five wins and a final rating of 117. Behind them came two contestants with four wins each: Abel Hadden was awarded third (Hurlingham, final rating 109) and John Bowcott fourth (also Hurlingham, final rating 107). Abel was the only one to beat John Reddish.