MILLENIUM HANDICAP WON UNDER DURESS
Blustery gales were blowing in from the Irish Sea when Chester Croquet Club hosted this year’s Millennium Handicap Tournament at Westminster Park on 7/8 May 2005. This was the fifth annual event since the tournament was founded in 2000 and the first to be hosted by Chester now that the club has four full-sized lawns.
Six clubs from the North West Regional Federation, including Bowden, Bury, Fylde, Pendle and Southport as well as Chester, fielded a total of fourteen contestants, each of whom played five three-hour full-lawn matches in a marathon session over the two days.
Tournament Manager and North West Federation Chairman, Barry Keen, described conditions as “playing under duress”. Overall winner of the tournament was Lee Hartley from Fylde Croquet Club who won all five games he played having taken up the game only last year. Runner up in second place was Mark Lloyd of Chester who won four games and who was overall winner in 2004. Other competitors from Chester were Alan Clare, David Guyton and Alan Stubbs.