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It has been an awful winter by any standards, but on Sunday the weather stayed fine and provided for an enjoyable day of petanque with 20 teams competing for the annual French Bakery Bastille Day Tournament.
The random draw round robin section in the morning threw up lots of surprises and only Andrew Findlay and Warren McConell went through undefeated. Teams qualified for 5 pools of four playing semi finals and finals in each pool. In the championship section Andrew and Warren crashed out to an in form Keith Dixon and Brian Westerbroek. In the other semi final, Neil Satherley and John Targett beat Les Clearwater and Jared Handford ... a reversal of their round robin game when Les and Jared thrashed the other pair 13-0. The semi-finals and final were played on the competition arena and the final was an exciting contest with Neil and John finally overcoming their opponents to win the trophy. New Zealand representatives Chris Taylor and Tina Targett just missed out on qualification for the Championship section but went on to be convincing winners of the Plate Section without dropping a single point in the semi final or final. A fine day of competition played as always in great spirit and sportsmanship.
 
Winners: Neil Satherley & John Targett
Runners Up: Keith Dixon and Brian Westerbroek  
Plate Winners: Chris Taylor & Tina Targett
Bowl Winners: Janet Wilkinson & Tony Wilkinson
 
Consolation 1 Winners: Maureen Morgan and Caroline Kinloch
Consolation 2 Winners: Joy Missievich & Mavis Thompson
The New Zealand Open and Senior Teams were both successful at the weekend, thrashing the Australians on the challenging terrain of Herne Bay, Auckland. Mainland players made a major contribution to the team's success. Diane Findlay and Marilyn Bunce ( Alexandra ) for the Senior Team, Chris Taylor and Tina Targett for the Open Team. John Targett was the successful 'rookie coach' of the Open Team.
Division Two Winners: The Mainlanders
Andrew & Diane Findlay, Keith Dixon, Chris Taylor, Colin & Marilyn Bunce
The Mainland were well represented at the 2010 National Club Championships in Levin at the weekend. A combination of Christchurch and Alexandra players travelled north for the tournament. Having not entered the championships last year, the Mainland team had to compete in Division Two. At the end of the two days they came out victorious and returned south with the trophy and automatic entry into Division One next year. A wonderful result and a great outcome !
 
Winners: Pat O'Shea, Tina Targett
Runners Up: Pamela Trounce, John McKay
This year's ANZAC Day 'friendship' tournament attracted enough players to provide for 14 drawn doubles teams. Three games were played ( max time 1 hour plus 2 ends ... not required in any of the games ) to find the two teams with the highest points differential. Most players stayed to watch an exciting final with both teams playing great petanque. Pam and John got out to a positive start before being gradually overhauled by Pat and Tina for a 13 -10 win. This is the first time a women's pair has won the Firefighters Trophy ... congratulations ladies ! 
 
Winners: Andrew Findlay & Margaret Scottorn
Runners Up: Les Clearwater & Stephanie McDonald
Thirty players gathered together on Easter Monday to take part in a doubles Matchplay Tournament. Each game consisted of 13 ends with the winner of each end being awarded 1 point. The 'best of 13' determing the overall result, the requirement was to score 7 points to win. Two round robin pools followed by play-offs between the two pools resulted in Andrew and Margaret winning the event unbeaten. 
 
Winners: Craig McKenzie, Neil Satherley, Steve Thwaites
Runners Up: Keith Dixon, Chris Taylor, Brian Westerbroek
Twenty one teams gathered at the Christchurch Club to compete for the 2010 South Island Triples title. generally fine weather greeted the players who engaged in 5 random draw games on day 1. Three teams emerged unbeaten with Craig, Neil and Steve recording a remarkable +45 point differential. Day two was a little colder but got off to an 8.30am start. The top eight teams played in two round robin pools with the top two from each pool going into the trophy section and the bottom two into the Plate section. The Bowl and Bowl Consolation was determined in the same manner. Both finalists in the trophy arrived with unbeaten records for the tournament. Keith Dixon, Chris Taylor and Brian Westerbroek are a triples combination that is getting stronger and stronger and thoroughly deserved their opportunity to compete against the defending champions for the 2010 title. However despite some excellent ends, they were defeated by an established team with real depth of skills. Other results below.  
Plate Winners: Jared Handford, Tina Targett, John Targett
Plate Runners Up: John Yellowlees, Janet Wilkinson, Tony Wilkinson
 
Bowl Winners: Irene Heron, Lester Heron, Noeline Newton
Bowl Runners Up: Mark Richardson, Karen Stephen, Jamie Richardson
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