Islanders Flying High Once More

EPA Inter-Regionals at Pontins Brean Sands 8th & 9th Sept 2007

This 2 day national competition is held annually with each of the 16 EPA Regions submitting at least part of a team. The IOW team was relegated from the first division for only the second time last year, apparently due to the lack of a mascot!!

The format for the weekend seems a little confusing to the un-initiated.

On the Saturday, after being dragged out of bed at an un-earthly hour, the 8 regional teams in each of the 2 leagues, each of which consists of 8 senior and 1 junior triple, or quad if you are lucky enough to have a reserve, play a round robin against everyone else, in which the triple that qualified as the number 1 for their region, plays all the other regions number 1 triples, the number 2 triples play all the other regions number 2 triples and so on, giving a league table after 7 matches and 63 games at the end of the day.

On the second day the top region in each league plays 5 further matches against the second through sixth placed regions in their league, the second placed region will play 5 regions close to them, all the way down to the eighth placed region who play the seventh through to third placed teams, or as near as I
could determine!!

With me so far?

So as to avoid playing the same triples as the previous day, except for the Juniors who have little choice, the number one triple plays their opponents number 2 triple and vice-versa, the number 3 triple plays their opponents number 4 triple and vice-versa, well you get the picture, giving all the senior
teams 12 different opponents over the 2 days.

Life in division 2 started with a 1st round match against the Anglia region and although we won this round 6-3 we ended the match with a -6 points difference! The Junior team consisting of Pip Hamilon, Emma Stockbridge, Rachael Massey and Michael Thorne got off to a good start with a 13-9 win.

Round 2 saw us involved in a hard fought game against Great Western which we eventually lost 4-5 but this time managed a +3 aggregate.

In round 3 we enjoyed probably the regions best ever performance at these championships. Playing against a strong looking London side we ran out 8-1 winners with a +53 difference only losing the one game 13-12. Our first 13-0 leg win came in this match from Chris, Roy and Mick Cook making up team 3.

Unfortunately round 4 proved very disappointing as we slipped to a 4-5 loss to Kernow albeit with another plus aggregate of 22. Team 8, made up of John Buckingham, Alan Whitehouse, Mike Renouf and Alan Routledge performed well to record our second 13-0 whitewash.

After regrouping at lunchtime, the last 3 rounds were all won by the same 6-3 scoreline against Sussex, EPA Combined and Thames Valley giving the IOW team a very creditable 40 wins, 23 losses and a +157 aggregate which put us in first place in the league closely followed by Thames Valley just 2 points behind, and the London region 2 points further adrift.

Day 2 started slightly later but otherwise tha same way as day 1 with a match against Anglia. This time though the result was a 7-2 win with a +18 difference an improvement which proved to be a sign of things to come. Team 6, comprised of Kevin and Eddie Fernley, John Eldridge and Alan Whaley recorded a 13-4 win to match the best result of this round.

Round 9 constituted another high spot with an 8-1 win over Sussex and another big points differenec of +52. Kev Gifford, Gary Dawkins, Trevor Shand and Heather Stockbridge, playing as team 4, began a 4 match winning streak with a 13-6.

This was followed up with a 7-2 win over Great Western to avenge our narrow defeat of the previous day. Team 2 of Sean Newton, Sean Prendergast, Nick Jaggers and Kelly Thorne rounded off a 4 match winning run with their second 13-0 result.

After lunch we were left with the prospect of games against the 2 regions battling it out with us at the top of the table. The first match against London region proved to be a tense affair but with a close win in the last leg to finish we secured a 5-4 win to stretch our lead once more.

After discovering that our final opponents Thames Valley had lost in their penultimate round, our final match was a much more relaxed affair, resulting in a 7-2, +42 win, to give us the 2nd division title by a massive 14 wins ahead of second placed London region who will join us next year in the top flight.

The second day return of 34 wins out of 45 when the pressure was at its height proved decisive.

The Island region ended up with the top 3 teams in division 2. Team 1 of Merv Ringer, Rob Binnie and Alan Wright gained 3rd place with 10 wins and +43, team 5 consisting of Anthony Hiscock, Simon Gifford, Dave Stockbridge and Chris Gordine gained 2nd place with 10 wins and +52 and team 7 of Nick, Shirley, Richard and Michael Henry were the top team with 10 wins and +68.

Alongside the main competition 12 regions submitted 4 teams each to take part in the Challenge tournament which proved much more arduous for the Island team and of 11 rounds played, only the first against Great Western was actually won with a score of 3-1, with 6 rounds being shared 2-2, 3 rounds lost 1-3 and 1 round in which none of our teams recorded a win.

The Island team ended well down the league with 18 wins, 26 losses and a -52.

The best placed Island team was team 4 of Chris Bailey, Sue Smy, Tim and Jan Blackmore with 6 wins and a +16 aggregate.