NWFCC Millennium handicap AC tournament, 13^th/14^thJuly 2019

The Federation Millennium handicap AC tournament was held over the weekend of the 13^th/14^thJuly hosted by Pendle & Craven Croquet Club. With 8 contestants from Bowdon, Bury, Crake Valley, Fylde, Pendle and Westmorland and with handicaps ranging from 3½to 22 taking part, the event comprised 5 rounds of 18 point handicap AC played to a time limit of 2½hrs per game. The lawns were in excellent condition, running both true and consistently, and the weather forecast was for good, dry days so all looked on course for an enjoyable weekend of croquet.

Initial pairings were based on matched handicaps as far as possible with subsequent rounds determined using the Swiss format. This brought some interesting encounters with the overall ranking changing with each iteration. As late as round 4 there were still three of the competitors in contention for the title but by the final round this had reduced to two with the final result hung on the last game to finish. At the end of the tournament three of the players were tied on 3 wins out of 5 and the end placings were determined by net hoops however the overall winner, being the only player with 4 wins out of 5 was Dave Williamson from Crake Valley (who earned a handicap reduction from 22 to 16). Second place went to Paul Dowdall of Pendle and third place to Tony Phillips of Bury.

Thanks to Pendle CC for hosting the event and for providing their customary excellent hospitality and to Robert Essler of Pendle who presented the trophies .