An inspiration to us all

The Home Nations Championships were held last weekend (12/13th August), this annual challenge competition is hosted by one of the competing nations every year, and this year was England’s turn to host the event at Hayling Island. England, Scotland, Wales and Jersey were all competing for top honours and at the end of the weekend’s play, England comfortably retained the title with 77 wins, Jersey were in 2nd place with 51 wins, Wales were 3rd with 36 wins and Scotland were 4th with 28 wins.

As many of you know, a small number of Mercia players qualified to represent England at these championships, amongst them was Brian Eldridge from Chesterfield Petanque Club. At the awards ceremony Brian was singled out by the president of the EPA to have the honour of collecting the cup on behalf of England. Martin Eggleton ( EPA President) gave a speech to the effect that Brian has proved that whilst being registered Blind, he can still perform at the highest level and proves that petanque has no boundaries for those that wish to play our sport. Martin went on to say that Brian was an inspiration to others who pick up their boule and play with the best. Needless to say the place erupted when Brian collected the cup on behalf of England.

Well done Brian and congratulations to England on retaining the title.

 

 

Mercia vs HoE vs Northern

The tri-way competition between Mercia, Northern and Heart of England regions was held yesterday (6th August) at Mansfield Petanque Club. In a highly enjoyable day of petanque, six rounds were played by the eight teams from each region. The winners on the day were Northern Petanque with a total of 31 wins, second was Mercia with 25 wins, with Heart of England in 3rd place with 16 wins. Congratulations to Northern Petanque on a convincing win.

The top team on the day was Mercia 1, congratulations to Mohktar Benarab, Brian Forbes & Peter Newton, who won all 6 rounds with a points difference of +61.

Thank you to the Northern, HoE and Mercia squads for making this such an enjoyable event, we hope to see you all again next year.

Our thanks also goes to June & Mike Ricketts and Maureen Mountain who were responsible for the majority of the organisation on site.

There were a great many helpers that helped to make the day run smoothly, I would like to thank those that helped set-up the pistes and equipment in the morning and helped clear away at the close of play, and to those that were there helping all day whilst we were playing. Thank you all.

Thank you Morris (Goodman) for being our umpire for the day.

Mercia Closed Triples Championship

Following on from their success at the Nottingham Open Doubles Tournament in early July, Carla & Tim Jervis joined forces with their Chesterfield PC teammates, Carole Sheppard and Ian Kingman to win today’s Mercia Triples Championship.

In an exciting final match played against Mokhtar Benarab, Abdel Fekir, Peter Newton and Brian Forbes from Nottingham City PC, Tim’s team put on a display of great shooting and pointing to lift the title.

Congratulations to Chesterfield Petanque Club and to Carla, Tim, Carole & Ian.

A special thank you must go to Morris Goodman for being umpire for the day, and to Rainworth Petanque Club and all their helpers for hosting this event and keeping the players supplied with food and refreshments all day.

Another great day of competition, thank you to all who took part.

 

The Nottingham Open

Congratulations to Carla & Tim Jervis from Chesterfield Petanque Club, who won the Nottingham Open Doubles Tournament at the weekend. Carla & Tim were unbeaten on the day winning all six games.

A record 30 teams entered this year’s Nottingham Open Tournament, and with the weather heating up, so did the competition. The morning’s leagues determined who would be in the gold, silver and bronze leagues in the afternoon, and after three more challenging rounds the winning teams were named with Carla & Tim being crowned champions.  Congratulations to the top two teams from the gold, silver and bronze leagues who all won cash prizes.

Winners

Gold Winners: Carla & Tim Jervis
Runners Up: Mokhtar Benarab and Abdel Fekir

Silver Winners: Simon Cotton and Christian Seville
Runners Up: Robin Winter and Chris Brown

Bronze Winners: Karen and Mike Cotton
Runners Up: Peter Bartley and Andy Green

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Carla & Tim Jervis – Nottingham Open Champions

Inter Regional Championships

Stephen Snudden has placed the following link on the EPA Facebook Group. Follow the link at the bottom of Stephen’s article to see day one fixtures for the Inter Regional Championships at Hayling Island.

With just under 11 weeks to go, this years Inter Regional’s draw has now been posted to the EPA Website. (Subject to confirmation of entrants, promotion/relegation)

The summary tables are replicas of those that will be on display in the control room with the addition of links to each days order of play.

When results are refreshed in the control room they will also get updated on the EPA website. Those players unable to make the weekend will therefore be able to keep up to date with the state of play.

As for last year the Junior Precision Shooting will take place on Saturday afternoon.

Refresh/Upload of the state of play will stop 2 rounds before the end of play on the Sunday. This is intentional so as to keep people guessing as to final positions, top teams etc.

http://www.englishpetanque.org.uk/InterRegionalResults.html

Petanque Break in Weston-Super-Mare

“A group of Petanque players from the Mercia Region spent an enjoyable week at Sand Bay Holiday Village, Weston-super-mare and took part in the Isle of Wight Tours Great Petanque Event.  Superbly organised by Alan Whitehouse, the event saw our members take part in a Triples Competition and a Triples Melee.
In the main event Nick North, John Proctor and Thakor Mistry were runners up.  Mike Ricketts, June Ricketts, Denise Proctor, Maureen Mountain and Madhu Mistry were all loosing semi-finalists.  Linda Edwards, Alison Baker and Colin Baker won the plate trophy.
In the Melee Mike and June Ricketts fought out a pulsating dual in opposite teams in the main final, Mike coming out the victor.  John Proctor and his team beat Nick North ‘s team to win the plate and Thakor Mistry’s team won the wooden spoon trophy.
Everyone enjoyed the event and came home laden with trophies and wine!”

Mercia Regional Competitions

If you are considering entering any of Mercia’s regional competitions in July, please complete your entry forms and return them to Zena Forbes (See competition entry forms for Zena’s address).

Entries close on the 3rd July for the Mercia shooting and singles competitions that are being held at Mansfield Petanque Club on the 9th July.

Entry Forms

Mercia Shooting Entry Form (Download)

Mercia Singles Entry Form (Download)

Entries close for the Mercia regional triples competition on the 17th July, the competition will be held at Rainworth Petanque Club on the 23rd July.

Entry Form

Mercia Triples Entry Form(Download)

Please note: All competition entrants must be registered with Mercia  Petanque Association and hold a valid EPA licence.

Thank you.