Author: huddersfieldpetanque

In addition to our monthly member melees which leads to a local winner there are a series of Winter Pairs events around the Northern Region starting very early on Sunday mornings and playing 5 games. These are for the die-hards of the game; the people who can’t survive without holding 700g of cold steel in the palm of their hand once a week; the people who have a wardrobe full of wet weather gear and thermonuclear underwear. (I mean what time do you set your alarm for on a winter sunday duvet wrapped morning with breakfast in bed and the sunday papers if you have to make a 0945 start in Bridlington and you live in Golcar and it’s gently snowing?).

But these events are popular and the nearer they are to Huddersfield the higher the number entering. Best of the season was Heckmondwike in January where 24 teams squeezed into Firth Park and a week or so ago Huddersfield had 22 teams. I wasn’t there but Club Secretary and Treasurer both told me it was a great day. Good weather; great people; good games although not everyone from Huddersfield won a game and a great raffle. Roy said “I think the day went brilliantly from a club point of view and lots of players spoke to me afterwards saying how well the day had been run by the club so a feather in everyone’s cap! It was good to see non-playing members turning up to help and staying to support”

Best performance on the day was Brendan, one of our promising young shooters, playing with Yvonne, one of our promising young pointers, who showed what teamwork can do. They won 4 out of 5 and although they missed out on the prize money it shows that local players are capable of holding their own at a higher level.

The final Winter Pairs was on the 20th March and the winner of the season prize was Mike Walkley, regional coach, who won playing 45 games and winning 39 of them. Ted Beetham was 8th but a little further down the list Brendan was 49th (played 10 games and won 6 which is a very good result from a newcomer to this level of play). The total number who took part in the winter league was 113 and 11 of those  were from Huddersfield!

So we’re on the way up and on the way out. We can host a big event; we can play in bigger events; soon we’ll be winning significant numbers of games at these events.

Sunday 13th March will see some top players at Huddersfield. Some have even played for England! Others have represented the Northern region in county level matches.

There will be 22 or maybe more teams and we’ll be playing 5 rounds starting at about 10am and going on well into the afternoon.

Come along and watch. Some Huddersfield members will be trying their luck against some of the best players in the North of England.

It wasn’t a grand finale. Only 13 turned up – the rest presumably being fed for Mothers Day by their children at gastro pubs around Huddersfield.

Meanwhile back at the terrain 3 rounds were played and the only person to win all three was Fred who is today’s winner!

All the contenders needed a turnout of over 20 so they could pick up over 15 points but it just didn’t happen. The best performance was Alasdair who leapt into 8th place with a solid performance.  So with Robin and Rita and the Wigginers missing the top 5 didn’t change at all. 44 players took part at some stage over the winter.

Robin – your trophy is being engraved – we’ll present it when your’e ready. See full results by clicking on link below

hpc winter league 2016 mar best 3

Set fair for the big finish of the winter melees. Cold but dry. There will be a trophy presented on the day previously held by Daniel and Roy and there could be a surprise. Ladbrokes have stopped taking bets.

There have been 4 events so far (January was rained off) and there are about 10 people who can realistically win. Here’s where we are with the contenders.

With the rule that best 3 results count it’s possible that someone with a low score will jump many places as someone with a high lowest score doesn’t beat it (if you see what I mean). Putting it another way Robin, David and Roy have to have a very good result to improve but Sue, Yvonne, and Alasdair are certain to improve. There’s a further complication. Robin and Rita are on holiday enjoying the sun (Tee Hee).

See you Sunday. BBC weather forecasts are never wrong. Link to full table under earlier post at beginning of February. See archives.

It was very cold and there was a hailstorm halfway through but 22 members turned out and played 3 rounds. Only 2 teams won all their games  with Rock & Roll beating the Bees by virtue of a +27 points difference to +18. The Killers (Marie & Paul) were the best of the 2 time winners and took 3rd place.

Above you can see Brendan and Sandie (Bees) and Robin & Rita (Rock & Roll) with their prizes and some heart shaped bunting provided by Sue which just about survived the day.

Next Sunday is Tactics Talk at 1300 plus a game or two afterwards if it’s not raining.