World Petanque Day and the EPA Triples
02 June 2007
On Saturday 2nd June, World Petanque Day, in blisteringly hot weather belying the torrents of rain of only the previous weekend, the EPA triples competition was held at Crondall in Hampshire, a late replacement for Cascades in Kent when Cascades couldn't provide the facilities that were required. The setting is wonderful, but proved unable to cope with the demands of a petanque competition. Lunch was a long drawn out affair making all the competitors late to complete their games. We were also slightly delayed during the afternoon when the EPA president cut a cake for the occasion and we all momentarily raised our blood sugar levels.
The Swiss system was used once more as in previous EPA competitions this season and I am sure it is now becoming second nature to the core competitors who enter these competitions. For those who don't always come in the top 4 it is nice to see your overall ranking at the end of the day.
30 teams entered the competition.
As far as Hartley is concerned, two teams entered. Joyce and Mick Nash teamed up with Jean Louis Guiot, but had a poor showing losing their first 4 games, and putting the gloss on a bad day by eventually winning the final 2 (the last with a fanny). They completed the day in 25th position.
Faring much better were the team of Irene and Colin Gibbs and Colin Senneck who won their first 3 games and were sitting on top of the pile at that stage having a higher BHN than all their rivals. They were now playing top teams in every game and had two narrow defeats to top quality opposition before they completed their 4th win and achieved 4th place in the rankings. And - that all important trip to Inverness to represent England in the Home Nations team.
Other Kent players achieving success were Rachid Hannache and Sylvan Borsi who won the competition with Ayadi Noez. Nic Baxter in 3rd place, Martin Eggleton in 6th place, and Dave Blakeley, Alec Bruce (who had already qualified as a junior as well) and Allan Cregeen in 8th place.
Dean and Scott Ashby and Steve Brown were 17th, Jes Payne, Martin Pennell and Geoff Booth were 19th and Kris Smith was 27th with his team.
Report from Mick Nash