Levi Franks (Canterbury) added the Singles trophy at the CNZ North Island GC Championships to his cabinet. The championships were held at Kapiti Coast clubs Waikanae and Paraparaumu from 10 to 13 October.
The championships saw the doubles event held on the first two days at Waikanae Croquet Club, with eight pairs competing for the title. Day 1 saw a block of eight playing for placings in the knock-out to be played on day 2. Eventual finalists Callum McKinnon & Paul Kaiser (Wellington & Canterbury) and James Duggan & Michael Lauer (Canterbury & Nelson) topped the block with both pairs winning six of their seven games. McKinnon & Kaiser’s only loss came against Duggan & Lauer, while Duggan & Lauer dropped one game against John Christie & Ricardo Pintor (Thames Valley & South Taranaki).
McKinnon & Kaiser marched into the final without dropping a single game, while Duggan & Lauer lost a game in both the quarterfinal and the semifinal. In the final McKinnon & Kaiser continued their unbeaten run to win the CNZ North Island GC Doubles Championship in straight games.
The Doubles Plate Event was won by Mei & Brian Williams (Auckland) who came out on top of the Plate Block.
The Singles event was held on Saturday and Sunday across both clubs with a total of 24 players divided into four blocks of six playing a single round robin of 19 point games. The top two places players of each block qualified for the knockout. With about half the field of players being under 25 years old, spectators were treated to some aggressive play, impressive jump shots and hard hitting long clearances.
The best of three knockout saw the three young Canterbury players (Levi Franks, Josh Winter and Paul Kaiser), three Wellington players (Nathan Bullen, Brian Bullen and Mark Huttley) as well as Joel Steele (Hawkes Bay) and Michael Lauer (Nelson) qualifying. In the quarterfinals local players Nathan and father Brian Bullen proved to strong for their opposition to qualify for the semifinals beating Kaiser and Steele respectively. They were joined by two players from the Cashmere Croquet Club with Winter prevailing over Lauer and Franks having to work hard to overcome Huttley and in the process dropping his first game of the tournament.
Winter and Franks proved too strong for the Bullens in the semifinals with Franks winning in straight games and Winter overcoming Brian Bullen after losing the first game. In the final Franks continued his dominating form with another win in straight games, taking home the North Island GC Championship for the first time.
The Singles Plate event was won by John Christie (Thames Valley) who beat Robbie Spooner (Wellington) in the final.
Congratulations to all the winners and thank to the manager, referees, all volunteers and the host clubs and association for a very well managed tournament!
