Created 11/10/10

Total County Championship entry = 388  :  42 Singles  42 Pairs  30 Triples  20 Fours 20 Mixed Fours 12 U18 Singles

Of which the total ESMBA Nationals entry = 169 : 28 Singles  16 Pairs  11 Triples  7 Fours 9 Mixed Fours  12 U18 Singles

The PAIRS - (Saturday December 4th 2010): Due to snow/ice this competition was re-arranged for Saturday February 5th. This had resulted in 2 dropouts from the original entry. With all 40 entrants playing in a round robin composed of 8 groups of 5, everyone was guaranteed to play in a minimum of 4 games. The bottom 3 in each group were then eliminated with the winners & runners went on into the first KO round - the "Last Sixteen". The winners of these 8 matches then contested the Quarter-Finals in which three of the games were very even, all being won 7-6 as follows.....

Nathan Kotek/Francis Boatman went into a 5-1 lead but Richard Clark/Harry Wilson could only reply with 3 singles to a further 2 by Nathan and so went out by 6-7.

Paul Williamson/Simon Holtby were 7-4 up with 2 ends remaining and only allowed Graham Sherburn/Tony Birdsall to pick up 2 singles and so won 7-6.

Geoff & Anne Whitehead scored 4 on the first end but Richard Lochman/Joseph Newsome replied with 4 singles to level the score after 5 ends. However after the Whiteheads scored a further 2 and 1 their opponents could only reply with 2 singles to lose 6-7.

Rose Haynes/Roger Green won 6 of their 9 ends against Ken & Jean Calvert who in spite of a 3 on the last end went out by 5-9.

In the Semi-Finals Paul and Simon decisively beat the Whiteheads by 13-4 whilst Rose and Roger recovered from being 2-6 down to finish strongly with 9 more shots to Nathans 2 to reach the Final by 11-8.

The Final was therefore between club colleagues from Great Ouseburn. Rose/Roger were 5-4 up with 3 ends remaining when Rogers leading weight faltered allowing the initiative to swing to Paul/Simon who finished strongly to become this years Champions by 10-5. 

All games played were of 9 ends duration and the day finally finished at 4.20 - a little earlier than scheduled. There was no official Umpire for the day and the raffle was very well supported, raising £152.  (See PhotoGallery)

To see who has accepted the invitation to represent us in the NESMBA Championships at Barnard Castle see Roll of NESMBA qualifiers

To see who has qualified to represent us in the ESMBA National Finals see Roll of National qualifiers

To see this years table of competition successes see Order of Merit   

The FOURS - (Sunday December 5th 2010): Due to snow/ice this competition was re-arranged for Saturday February 19th.

Round 1 was a round robin with 3 groups of 5 and 1 group of 4 (due to one team dropping out due to a bereavement). The results of this initial stage were as follows.

A                                B                                 C                             D

Leng                8     +15                D Newsome      8     +29                Jones               6    +9            Haynes         5    +7

Banthorpe        6     +9                 James Clark     4     -3                   Whitehead       5    +3            Kotek            4    +13

Fenwick           4     +17                Hanlon            4     -3                   Jackson           4    +3            Bradley         3     +2

Jarvis              2     -10                Elgie               4     -5                    Richard Clark  4    -6            Janet Clark   0   -22

Stevens            0     -31                Spencer          0     -18                  Ridge               1    -9            

The 4 group winners and 4 runners up were then matched for the Quarter Finals. In the first of these, Bryan Jones took a 2 on the last end to just beat James Clark 9-7. In the other three, David Newsome, Andrew Leng and Rose Haynes all only conceded just 2 singles on their way to their respective victories over Alan Banthorpe 15-2, Nathan Kotek 11-2 and Geoff Whitehead 10-2. 

In the first Semi Final Rose Haynes, Simon Holtby, Roger Green and Paul Williamson were 1-7 down after 5 ends but fought back to level the scores and force an extra end which they then won by a single shot over Andrew & Mary Leng, Bronagh Malone and Jayne Rudd.  In the other, Bryan & Pat Jones and Derek & Pat Beardsley were 1-8 down after 4 ends to David and Jo Newsome, Ben Render and Richard Lochman but then picked up a 6 to give themselves a chance. However David's rink shut the door in their face and with a 3, 3, 1 finish to reach their 3rd consecutive Final by 15-7.

The Final was thus between Rose's four (2004 Champions) and David's four (2009 Champions). On paper the younger team may have been the favourites but Roses Four kept the pressure on with more woods in the head, thus forcing David's Four on to the attack with weight. . However, few of these paid off and by the end of the match it was a little surprising to see such a large final margin of 14-2 to Rose and Co. leaving David as runner up for the second year running.

All games played were of 8 ends duration and the day finally finished at 6.00 - about 90 minutes later than scheduled. There was no official Umpire for the day and the raffle was very well supported, raising £132. This was George McDowell's last competition as our Competition Secretary as he has recently announced his intention not to seek re-election for next season.  (See PhotoGallery)

To see who has accepted the invitation to represent us in the NESMBA Championships at Barnard Castle see Roll of NESMBA qualifiers

To see who has qualified to represent us in the ESMBA National Finals see Roll of National qualifiers   

To see this years table of competition successes see Order of Merit 

The MIXED FOURS - (Saturday December 11th 2010): Although the weather conditions that caused the postponement of last weeks Pairs and Fours had eased during the week with the onset of a slow thaw and little further snow, there were still several incidents in the early morning icy conditions on the way to Easingwold which caused a short delay to the planned start time. However, in the end all 80 contestants arrived safe and sound. This particular competition has seen an increase in entrants every year since 2006 and this year a record 20 Mixed Fours took part.

Round 1 was a round robin organising into 4 groups of 5, giving all entrants a guaranteed 4 games. These were played using 8 mats and meant everyone had to play in 4 of the 5 sessions which concluded around 2pm with a short break for lunch. The results of this initial stage were as follows.

A                                B                            C                             D

Haynes            8     +19                Render     8     +41                Calvert           7    +20            Newsome      6    +13

Jackson          6     +21                Smith        6     -6                 Whitehead      5     +0             Mather         6      -1

Bradley           4     + 1                 Raggett     4     -7                James Clark     4     -2             Jarvis          3     +1

Janet Clark     2     -19                Williams    2     -10                Spencer         2    -4               Jones           3    -5

R Clark            0     -22                Leng         0     -18                Clifton           2   -14               Holtby         2    -8

Group winners and runners up were then matched for the Quarter Finals in which Haynes just beat Mather 8-7; Render beat Jackson 11-6; Calvert overcame Smith 12-4 and Newsome knocked out Whitehead (last years winner) 10-3

In the Semi Finals Rose Haynes, Roger Green and Gareth & Jacinta Townend put out  David, Joseph and Jill Newsome and Marlene Jackson (winners in 2009) by 10-4 whilst Jean & Ken Calvert, Jean Smallwood and David Daddy saw their challenge come to an end at the hands of Ben Render, Jayne Rudd, Bronagh Malone and Sean Conroy by 12-7.

The Final was thus a contest between the only two teams to remain unbeaten so far. With Rose a runner up in 2008 and Ben a runner up for the last two years, and with the 8 finalists including 3 England squad members and 2 (ex) Irish squad players it was always going to be very competitive. However it is fair to say that Rose's team had struggled a little more than Ben's to get this far having accumulated a shot difference of +26 over their previous 6 games as against Ben's +51. Roses Four needed a good start to put their opponents under pressure but this was not to be and it was  Ben who took the initiative with a 4 making it an uphill struggle from then on for Rose's team.  On the final end she found herself lying 1 down and needing to make 3 shots with her last wood to force an extra end. Although there was a possible shot on to achieve this, the way in to the head was awkward and in spite of a brave attempt, it was Ben, Jayne, Bronagh and Sean who finally claimed this years title by 11-7.            

All games played were of 8 ends duration and the day finally finished at 5.55 - about 90 minutes later than scheduled. There was no official Umpire for the day and the raffle was very well supported, raising £105. This was George McDowell's first competition as our Competition Secretary and all ran smoothly and (more or less) to plan. (See PhotoGallery)

To see who has qualified to represent us in the ESMBA National Finals see Roll of National qualifiers   

To see this years table of competition successes see Order of Merit 

The SINGLES - (Saturday January 8th 2011): The 42 hopefuls who started the day included the Champions from all previous years apart from one. 2 players had drawn byes into Round 2 but the remaining 40  played in Round 1 - a round-robin of 10 groups of 4. The group winners and runners up together with the "next best 2" then joined the two byes in Round 2 - another round-robin but in 8 groups of 3. The 8 group winners from this then contested the Quarter-Finals in which........

James Clark was 11-0 down before picking up a 2 but had left too much to do allowing David Newsome an easy 15-3 win.

Bronagh Malone took a 4 off Simon Holtby on the first end and although Simon replied with a 2 he only added another 1 before going out 10-3.

Nathan Kotek outdrew Francis Boatman only allowing him to take a single shot and winning by 10-1.

Sean Conroy had a close game against Rose Haynes who was just 1 shot down going into the final end. However Sean picked up a single to win 8-6.

In the first Semi-Final David was 2-4 down to Bronagh but then scored a 4 and finished strongly to win 13-6 to reach the Final for the second year running. In the other Semi, Nathan was briefly ahead 3-2  but was only able to pick up one more shot allowing Sean to reach the Final by 9-4.

In a close and well contested Final, David was just one shot down with 2 ends remaining when Sean scored a 3 leaving David requiring a 4 for a draw. A 2 was all that was possible leaving Sean as this years County Singles Champion by 9-7 and David as runner up for the second consecutive year. (See PhotoGallery)

All games played were of 9 ends duration and the day finally finished as scheduled at 4.30. The official Umpire for the day was Derek Williams.

To see who has accepted the invitation to represent us in the NESMBA Championships at Barnard Castle see Roll of NESMBA qualifiers

To see who has qualified to represent us in the ESMBA National Finals see Roll of National qualifiers 

To see this years table of competition successes see Order of Merit 

The TRIPLES - (Sunday January 9th 2011): (There was 1 dropout from the original 30 entrants requiring a slight modification to the original format. In addition there was one last minute substitution due to one contestant prevented from travelling due to icy roads). Round 1 was a round robin of 7 groups of 4, played over 6 sessions on 10 mats. Group winners and runners up plus the "next best" and 1 bye went on into Round 2. This was another round robin this time in 4 groups of 4, played continuously. The top 2 in each group then contested the Quarter Finals in which.....

Denis Jarvis, Simon & Megan Holtby were 9-0 up after 5 ends leaving Trevor Hanlon, Sandra & Jo Agustus with a mountain to climb. Final score - 10-3.

Phil Elgie, Audrey Craven and Jenny O'Hare dropped a 4 on the sixth end to go 2-9 down. In spite of then finishing strongly with two 3's it was Nathan Kotek, Francis Boatman and James Lambert who just squeezed into the Semis by 9-8.

Sean Conroy, Bronagh Malone and Joanne Senior had already lost their only game of the day in Round 1 to  Matthew Jackson, Alan Ward and Elaine Clark. However the Tollerton trio were unable to repeat their performance and only scored on 2 ends, finally going out by 3-14.

The final Quarter Final was a very tight match between the 2009 winners Rose Haynes, Gareth Townend and Roger Green and last years winners David, Joseph and Jill Newsome. With the scores at 4-4 after three ends, 5-5 after five and 6-6 after seven the final 8th end was very tense. With Rose's trio holding shot for the match David fired to give his side 2 shots. Rose then drew to the jack and although David's final running wood dislodged this, the woods did not run in his favour and it was Rose that went through 7-6 without needing to bowl her final wood.

In the first Semi Final Rose's team once again found themselves with scores level (4-4) going into the final end against Sean and Co. but this time it was the latter who went through 6-4. In the other Semi Final Dennis's trio were up against Nathan's three. Although Nathan opened with a 3 on the first end, he found himself 5-10 down with two ends to play. In spite of finishing with a 1 and 3, Dennis was relieved to reach the Final by a single shot.  

The Final was another well fought close battle with both sides winning four ends apiece. However, it was Sean who finally claimed the Trophy by 6-4 to make it three out of three in this years Championships so far. This final also saw the culmination of a great day for diminutive 12 year old Megan Holtby who impressed all with her composure and concentration in her first major competition (having stood in at the last minute). Well done Megan!  (See PhotoGallery).

All games played were of 8 ends duration and the day finally finished at 6.55 about 2 hours later than anticipated.  The official Umpire for the day was Arthur Rathmell and the Raffle, organised by Vice Chairman Pat Jones, was very well supported making a very healthy £165.

To see who has accepted the invitation to represent us in the NESMBA Championships at Barnard Castle see Roll of NESMBA qualifiers

To see who has qualified to represent us in the ESMBA National Finals see Roll of National qualifiers   

To see this years table of competition successes see Order of Merit 

The U18 SINGLES - (Saturday January 22nd 2011): 15 Juniors from four of our clubs took part in this, the 9th County U18 Singles competition. The field included three 10 year olds, one 11 year old, two 12 year olds, three 13 year olds, one 15 year old and fours 16 year olds.  All entrants were placed into three groups of 5 so everyone had at least four games with the group winners, runners up and "next best 2" progressing to the Quarter Finals in which......

Matthew Jackson (Tollerton) scored four 3's on his way to a 13-3 victory over Cameron Breeze (Church Fenton).

Jake Potter (North Duffield) scored a 2 on the last end to knock out Joshua Burrow (Church Fenton) by a single shot 8-7.

Last years Champion Nathan Kotek (North Duffield) scored two 4's on his card as he coasted to a 15-3 win over Edward Townend (North Duffield).

Nicole Baddeley (Great Ouseburn) was 5-1 up against Charlotte Clark (North Duffield) but could only add two more singles against a 3 and 4 for Charlotte who went through by 8-7.

In the Semis, Nathan then had little trouble in reaching his second Final with an easy 11-2 win over Charlotte whilst in his Semi,  Matthew finished with a 2, 4, 1 and 2 to pull back from 0-6 down against Jake to win 9-6.

In the Final match, Matthew put Nathan under pressure from the start with his more consistent drawing and built up a 9-1 lead. Nathan often had to resort to weight but was not able to get back in the game eventually losing by 4-13.

Target Competition - As usual all players also took part in a subsidiary "target" competition. In a slight change of format from previous years everyone had 4 attempts to see who could score most highly with their 4 woods. This resulted in a draw between Matthew Jackson (Tollerton) and Megan Holtby (Great Ouseburn) who both managed to clock up 18 points. The decider between these two resulted in a win for 12 year old Megan who drew well to score 14 against Matthew who scored 9.    

All games played were of 8 ends duration and with volunteer markers available at both ends, the games were generally quite speedy allowing the day to finished ahead of the schedules 4.30pm. The official Umpire for the day was Rose Haynes and the Target Competition was organised and run by Arthur Jackson.  See PhotoGallery