This year’ s tournament saw 12 players travelling to Nelson from all corners of New Zealand.
Despite a wet forecast, the first day of the tournament stayed fine. The lawns were running at a decent speed for this time of year, and the hoops were firmly set in new holes, altogether providing excellent conditions for the players to compete.
Day one featured two seeded blocks of six players each, playing a round-robin of 19-point games. The top four players from each block would proceed to the knockout phase, while the remaining two would compete in the plate competition.
In Block A, the top four seeds qualified with top seed Helen Reeves winning all her games
Block B was not as clear-cut, with Nicola Clement, the second seed, taking the top spot with four wins and Sally Colle – seeded sixth – securing third place. Local player Marion Prentice was unlucky not to finish higher than fourth, winning two games and losing three by the narrowest margin (9-10).
On Day two, the Plate Event, consisting of four players was played as a two-round robin of 13-point games. The winner was Vanessa Hanna from Waikato-King Country.
The Knockout stage, starting with quarter-finals was played as best-of-three 13-point games.
The quarter-final losers played a round-robin block of single 13-point game, with Marion Prentice from Nelson emerging as the winner
Helen Reeves from Central Districts won the Championship final against Mattie Clarkson from Counties Manukau in a very exciting match watched by a good group of spectators and fellow players. It couldn’t get closer – Helen won on the 13th hoop of the third game!
Sally Cole from Auckland won the Best 3+ Player award, finishing sixth overall.
Congratulations to the winners!
CNZ would like thank the Marlborough Nelson West Coast Association, the Nelson Hinemoa Croquet Club, the tournament referee, manager Vincent Commarieu and his numerous volunteer helpers.
Winner Helen Reeves, with Eileen Wilkins (Vice-President Croquet MNWC) and Vincent Commarieu (Tournament Manager).
