Andrew Hobbs wins GC Championship at Hunstanton

[<<] [>>] by David Boxell at Hunstanton
9th August 2021 (GC - Championships)

Day 1 - 12 players were cross-blocked for 6 rounds of 13 point games which were completed in sunshine, with a brief shower mid-morning. However, the last three hoops of the final game of the day were finished in torrential rain. In Block A: Tim King had 5 wins, Simon Carter & John Noble 4 wins each and David Thirtle-Watts with 3 wins all qualified for the knock-out stage. In Block B: Richard Bilton achieved 6 wins and was joined in the knock-out stage by Jayne Steven and Andrew Hobbs with 3 wins each; and Roger Goldring with 2 wins.

Day 2 - Knock-outs for the top 8 (best of 3 * 13 point games). The remaining 4 players were to contest the Plate in an all-play-all format with single 19 point games. The Quarter finals were won by: Tim King, Simon Carter, Andrew Hobbs & Richard Bilton who progressed to the Semi-finals.

The Final: Andrew Hobbs & Tim King entertained the other competitors and spectators to some fine play in a three game final. The first game, after an interruption for torrential rain went to Tim King 7/5. The second game went to the thirteenth hoop and was won by Andrew Hobbs forcing a decider. Andrew carried his momentum into the last game, the hoops being taken as follows: 1st by Andrew, 2nd by Tim, 3rd-7th by Andrew establishing a commanding lead, with Tim taking the 8th & 9th hoops, Andrew then ran the 10th hoop to take the 3rd game 7/3, win the match and Hunstanton's round of the Championship Series.

Third-Fourth Places: Simon Carter conceded 3rd place to Richard Bilton.

The 5th-8th places block was won by Jayne Steven (5th) with two wins and a better hoop difference ahead of: John Noble (6th); Roger Goldring (7th); & David Thirtle-Watts (8th).

The Plate produced a clean sweep for Mike Bilton with 3 wins, the other players had a win each and finished on hoop difference as follows: 2nd Peter Haydon, 3rd David Cornes & 4th Paul Durkin.

The full results are available on croquet scores at: https://croquetscores.com/2021/gc/hunstanton-championship.

The Winners and Players expressed their appreciation for the work put in by Hunstanton in making the event so enjoyable, especially in the face of adverse weather conditions. This will be the first time that Hunstanton has hosted a round of this GC Grade 2 class tournament, which is part of a national series. The winner and runner up qualify for the National Final which is to be hosted by Hunstanton on Saturday 18 & Sunday 19 September 2021.