SPRING PAIRS 2017
30 members attended the club on Saturday to compete for the Spring Pairs Trophy. As usual, partners for the afternoon were drawn randomly and this produced some strong pairings.
In the top half of the draw Wayne Graham and Phil Richards progressed to the final with wins against Jeff Brown and Laurie Townson (21-16), Les Miller and Peter Smith (21-13) and in the semi-final, Kevin McCormack and Pat Miller (21-13). Their opponents in the final were to be Alex Rimmer and Fergal Wright, who had defeated Barry McArthur and Ken Rimmer (21-7), Bill Bloor and Noel Morgans (21-18) and Pat McArthur and Richard Rawcliffe (21-14).
Although Alex and Fergal won the first two ends of the final, Wayne and Phil produced a winning run of six ends to establish commanding 15-7 lead and looked favourites to claim the title. Although Alex and Fergal won the next three ends to close the gap to 13-15, Wayne and Phil were able to maintain the advantage, closing in on victory at 20-16. However, in one of the most exciting finals seen at the Hesketh, Alex and Fergal ran out to take the Spring Pairs Trophy by the narrowest of margins. Congratulations to all four finalists for producing an entertaining finale to competition. In particular, well done to Alex on his first tournament win, having lost in four previous finals.
The Plate competition for those knocked out in their first game was won by Jim Halsall and Pat Jones, who defeated Chris Harding and John McCabe 15-8 in the final.
The next competition will be the Coronation Cup, a singles handicap and will be held on Sunday 18th June, starting at 12 noon.