Congratulations
Wendy Bensen Deb Rodda & Selina Dally runners up ladies Triples at the Australian Nationals Easter Championships in Melbourne. And double congratulations to Deb, runner up ladies doubles with Cathy Ayre. Go girls!
It just wouldn’t be League at Stirling without some precipitation, no matter what time of year it’s scheduled. Fortunately, this year the misty rain was so light that it was easily ignored and soon cleared to make way for a lovely sunny and mild afternoon. The varying condition of the playing surface as the pistes dried throughout the day presented an extra challenge to players.
After three rounds dominated by Club d’Adelaide, Round 4 was Prospect’s time to shine. Emulating Adelaide’s efforts in Round 2, Prospect has now become the second club to have ever achieved a clean sweep of the gold, silver and bronze medals. Congratulations to Dave Ward, Lionel Pujol & Tory McBride, winners on the day, and to Brett Williams, Martin Verdonk & Richard Voskamp and Heike & John Whitehorn & Alan Matthews respectively.Continue reading
This year’s State Triples Championship was held in fine and dry conditions, with the fierce February sun tempered by mild air temperatures.
In the preliminary rounds, reigning champions Dom and Rada Pierre (this time playing with Wayne Twigden) looked on track to repeat their heroics of the previous year. In fact, it took until the fourth round before any opponent managed to score a point against them! However, their run came to an end in an epic semi-final against the Adelaide Hills trio of Greg Anderson, Brian Tuckfield & Anthony Pietsch, in which the score was tied five times and the lead changed on each of the last three ends.
The other finalists were Selina Dally, Craig Stewart and Alexi Alexi, from the Eastern Suburbs club. This team, playing together for the first time, had reached the final with comfortable wins in all but one of their earlier games. The exception was one prelim round in which they had to claw their way back from a 0-6 deficit to win 8-7. That game was against the same team they were now facing in the final. But the result second time around was more decisive and the ESP team finished the day undefeated and holding the trophy. This is Alexi’s third State Triples title, the second for Craig and a first for Selina.Continue reading
As part of the Adelaide French Festival, volunteers from the South Australian Pétanque community we’re involved in “A French Weekend at Carrick Hill”. The setup by the Carrick Hill Trust around the pistes helped the volunteers to show off pétanque in the best light to the many visitors to the Festival.
Here are a few photos provided by the trust.
Round 3 came at a time of year when people have many other demands on their time (e.g., test cricket at Adelaide Oval), resulting in a rather disappointing turnout of just fifteen teams. The weather was variable, with players repeatedly exchanging sunglasses for raincoats. But, fortunately, by the end of the day, the former were required far more than the latter.
In terms of the competition, Club d’Adelaide were vulnerable here because they were only fielding one and two-thirds of a team. However, it’s all about quality, not quantity, and they still managed to score more championship points than any of the other clubs and increase their huge lead at the top of the table. In fact, the rewards reaped by all the clubs were fairly reflective of where they stood on the ladder already after the first two rounds. The only change is that Prospect gained a few points on ESP and have now caught up to be equal second.
Stars of the day were Louis Oltarczy, Jean-Paul Bouyer & Adrian Clements, three veterans of the game who have been consistent performers throughout the history of the competition. For Louis and J-P, this was their second gold medal and third top-two finish in the three rounds so far this season — a very impressive effort.
Also on the podium were a few newer players and potential stars of the future. In the second-placed team from Prospect, Melissa Scott collected her first league medal while her partner Gavin backed up his silver from Round 1 with another. In third, Ross Coleman from Adelaide Hills also picked up his first medal.
Thanks to the Gawler club for doing a great job of hosting and to all who participated.Continue reading