Van Barneveld and Lovi win Pam Shepherd Headland Cup; Wynnum players tackle chilly Victorian Open

Wynnum players brave the cold at ACA Open Championship

ACA GC Open Doubles & Singles Championship, Cairnlea Victoria – Sat 4 to Sun 12 May

Wynnum CC was well represented at this major event, as Deirdre Giles reports.

Armed with a good supply of winter woollies and thermal undies, ten Queensland croquet players braved the cold Melbourne weather in early May to participate in the ACA Open Doubles and Singles tournaments. Weather for the Doubles was cool but fine. Wynnum players Bruce Fleming and Gordon Giles performed well, finishing in 7th place overall. Deirdre partnered Rosemary Newsham (Stephens) while Liz Fleming made an enormous difference to the standard of refereeing.

All four players in the Final match were Victorian, and it was a real cracker, lasting for eight and a half hours. The match was a Best of Five games, and went down to the 13th hoop on the 5th game with John van der Touw & Richard Parks just getting over Brian Rowe & Owen Dickinson. Spectators were all in the clubhouse staying out of the cold, and enjoying the wonderful spectacle. The atmosphere was electric.

Liz and Bruce must have known more than the rest of us, as they left on the Wednesday, and immediately afterwards the weather turned even colder and we all discovered why Cairnlea is fondly known as "Pleurisy Plains".

Newly qualified referee Deirdre was asked to help out with some refereeing for the Singles tournament. And as the Tournament Manager's assistant was unable to be there due to family illness, Deirdre also stepped into that role, entering the results into Croquet Scores and keeping the players on track. Over the next five days she spent her time between the courts and the office - conveniently there were always some results to be entered when the rain was at its worst!!

The Final of the Singles was another riveting affair, with Alison Sharpe from NSW playing Kevin Beard from Victoria. Another Best of 5-game match went to 7:5 in the fifth game. Over the ten days, we witnessed some truly wonderful croquet, and enjoyed the social interaction too.

Wynnum pair wins Pam Shepherd Headland Cup

Wow, what a team! We are so very proud of this awesome foursome who fought it out in the finals of the Pam Shepherd Headland Cup at Headland Buderim on Sunday. Many different clubs were represented among the 32 players.

It was Wynnum players John Van Barneveld and Dianne Lovi who won this event 4-2 over team mates Gordon and Deirdre Giles in fading light, when it got to the stage where it was hard to see the hoops at the other end of the court.

Referee Cloreen from Nambour club officiated the match. It was a hard-fought battle and a pleasure to watch the tactics and free turns being played.

The Pam Shepherd Cup was presented to John and Di by Pam Shepherd herself, along with medals, cash and a 6 pack of wine. The runners-up also received cash and wine.

Congratulations to the team, you all played hard and got the results!

Thanks must go to the Headland Buderim club, and the swag of volunteers who always come up trumps in a big event, including the court setters, referees, caterers, Tournament Manager, scorers and many others. We look forward to the challenge again next year.

Congratulations to John, Di, Gordon and Deirdre.