Keith Aiton wins Northern Championship (29/8/06) – report by Ian Lines

Keith Aiton won the 2006 Championship of the North of England at Bowdon, beating James Death +13tp, +16tp, +18tp, to win the Faulkner Cup for his first time. The games in the final were almost error free, with supershot openings and James getting the first ball round on each occasion. However, Keith was hitting lifts, popping and doing tight hoop leaves, so in the 3rd game James tried for a sextuple, but came to grief very early by taking off from 2 into the back of hoop 1.

The Consolation Event (The Tollemache Plate) was run as an 8 player knockout for those with the best percentage wins after the first 3 days. There was a 3 way tie for the last 2 places between Marcus, Richard and David Harrison-Wood, and although David got the unlucky bye, he and Richard both qualified by beating Marcus. In the final of the Plate, Sam Tudor played Ian Lines. Sam put out a supershot near the peg, Ian went to maximum length on east boundary, Sam missed into corner 4, Ian missed partner from A baulk, Sam missed from corner 4, Ian went to 4 back with a diagonal spread. Sam then hit the long lift and went to 4-back with a B spread, Ian missed the long lift and Sam finished with a very tidy delayed triple to win +17tp.

The presentations were made by Bowdon President Sheila Black, who thanked all those involved in setting out the lawns and hoops, particularly Colin Irwin for his tireless efforts in setting hoops and mowing the lawns during the event, and also all the various Bowdon members who laid on truly excellent lunches and teas. The Bowdon lawns were described by Keith as currently the best in England, although due to recent rain they were fairly easy paced. Andrew Davies earned a handicap reduction to -1, and Sam Tudor went to -2 – a notable achievement.