Colin Irwin (Bowdon) won the 5th. German Open by Journe Vinnen at Hamburg (24/07/07)
This was the 4th. time that Colin dominated the Germans, winning three out of five games with a TP. Colin and Chris were happy to take the trophy – a carving of Croquet player in action – back to “it’s” place at their house. In the final Colin beat Martin Murray + 25 TP . Martin was not too unhappy to be the runner up since it was his best result in the Germans ever. Both of the finalists took part in every single German Open, a tournament to be played every two years since 1999. Places 3 and 4 were taken by Bruno Hess and Alexander Kirsten, both of them happy with their successfull participation (Bruno was a little bit happier though…).
With the prizegiving on Sunday a remarkable tournament ended: the sun shone over Saturdays games and allowed us to dine on the terras of Hotel Sullberg high up over the banks of Elbe river. Food and wines were delicious and maybee because of this beautiful evening everybody was shocked about Sunday mornings rain. Strings of rain poured out of a grey sky and soon all rain gear was soaked. Nevertheless the games went on and and after lunch the sun shone again and accompagnied us for the final stage of the tournament. Just after we finished prize giving a terrible thunderstorm that flooded hundreds of cellars in the western part of Hamburg made an lasting impression on the players.
The next German Open is scheduled for 2009 and we will do our best to offer another tournment with remarkable sportive and social aspects
