Gordon Giles wins CAQ GC Open Singles at Caloundra; Wynnum trio play in Melbourne

Gordon Giles wins CAQ GC Open Singles at Caloundra

Gordon Giles, Geoff Hull, Brian Rubock, Elaine Rubock and Ron Schodel all represented the Wynnum Croquet Club in the CAQ GC Open Singles, held at Caloundra on 28-29 April 2018.

The four blocks played off in a round robin format on Saturday. The winner and runner-up of each block went through to the Championship Block of 8, while the remaining players played off for the Plate.

All 8 players competed for the Championship in a round robin format, playing 7 untimed 13-point games on Sunday. At the end of play there were 2 players tied with 5 wins, with Gordon Giles winning on net hoops from Ross Rillie. The remaining 6 games of the round robin were played on Sunday, and the last game decided the final result.

Our own Gordon Giles won the trophy with 5 wins and net hoops of 13, and Ross Rillie of Caloundra was runner-up with 5 wins and net hoops of 4.

Ron Schodel received the runner-up medal in the Plate. Well done, Ron.

Well done to all Wynnum players.

Wynnum trio braves cold at ACA GC Open Singles

Club members Gordon Giles, Geoff Hull and Deirdre Giles braved the cold weather and travelled to Melbourne to play in the ACA (Australian Croquet Association) GC Open Singles Championships held at Cairnlea on 9-13 May 2018.

There were 46 players entered in the Championships and 1 player entered in the Plate only. The 4 Blocks played off in a round robin format on Wednesday and Thursday. The top 4 of each block went through to the Championship Finals of 16, and the remaining players played off for the Plate.

As expected, all games were challenging battles, going down to the wire, with many results depending on the outcome of the 13th hoop. The hoops were set very tight (the width of a ball plus a credit card), so players needed to be very precise with their hoop-running shots.

Gordon came top of Block A, winning 9 of his 10 games, and was seeded 4th in the last 16. The 4 Block winners were ranked using world ranking order. Geoff came 2nd in Block D, winning 8 of his 10 games, a great effort.

Gordon won his first round Best of 3 match to progress to the Quarter Final, where he lost his Best of 3 match to the eventual winner, Alison Sharpe. He then progressed to the Z Event (5th to 8th Place), where he won his 2 Best of 3 matches to win the Z Event and ended up in 5th position overall in the Championship.

Geoff lost his first round Best of 3 match, so he progressed to the Y Event (9th to 16th Place), where he won through to the Semi-Final of the Y Event and finished in 11th position overall.

Deirdre enjoyed playing in the Plate against some very low handicap players, but didn't enjoy playing in gale force winds and driving rain. It was a pleasure to get back into the clubhouse after each game!

Well done to all our players for continuing to play good croquet during the massive storm of wind and rain on Thursday afternoon and all day Friday.

Many thanks are due to the Tournament Referee, Judy, who stayed on court all day, every day, and almost froze to death.