A Wet Weekend in Worthing – Open Triples – Southern Counties Petanque

A day of truly dire weather in mid February brought a cold blustery wind and rain, but all 28 teams turned up and play got under way on time. There were some tasty teams, including the England Women’s team of Hannah, Becky & Rachel who represented us in Santa Susana last year, the England Junior girls Ella, Francesca and Jane, plus the strong favourites Dave Plumhoff, Callum Lombard and David Franco Cruz. The day also saw some pretty decent teams from around the country.

At the end of a very long morning Team Plumhoff led the pack dropping only nine points with Team Graham finishing second with +22.

In the afternoon knockouts, Plumhoff first overcame Hassi’s team, then Ameen Miah’s team to reach the final. Team Graham however went into the Consolage having lost to Martin, Danny and Steve. Martin’s team went on to survive the strong challenge of Steve Daykin and the Jamiesons, getting to the final where they came unstuck against Team Plumoff. In the Consolage, Team Hassi reached the finals after beating the Welsh team of Gay, Dan and Andy, but lost in a hard fought battle against Team Graham. The rain showed no sign of easing as the final matches were played with players soaked to the bone but the resilience of the petanque players was ever evident in the smiling faces as one by one the teams completed their matches, accepted their prizes and departed on their journeys home.

The pictures below give a good idea what the weather was like!

Bob Ainsworth