Bournemouth 2008

[bigtj]

Just back from a great weekend of bar billiards and fun at the above. Again a well organised event, hotel as good as ever and the standard of play at its highest.

Well done to Rick and Kev ( Dewdney and Tunstall) for their wiin and also to the Colemans ( Ian and Simon) on winning the plate.

Thanks to all that organised everything, and looking forward to next year.

[Martin Leach]

Just wanted to say well done Rick and Kev.

Now, if I'd have been there....
v
v
v
v
v
v
v
v
v
v
v
v
v
v
v
I'd probably have watched you win! ;D

Well done indeed to KT and Rik.
We sort of expect it from KT, but this must be a great confidence booster for Rik - Sussex Champion and now winner of a National event.
8-)

[Baby Guinness]

Congratulations KT and Rick

[SirKT]

Thanks everyone :)
Great competition as usual and well done to the organisers for a smoothly run weekend.
Well done to my partner Rick, he didn`t get much of a look-in on saturday but from the quarter finals on, he was superb.
The semi against Paul & Bernie was always going to be tough, my run-out in the first with 17k, Bernies almost run-out in the second with 13k followed by Rick`s in the third game with 14k.
Paul needed 18,700 in the last, possible, but the table only ran 16-10, so he couldn`t make a mistake. Unfortunately he broke down over 2k and that was that.
I must say that we did expect to play Gareth & Richard in the final for an all Sussex match up but they lost 3-1 on the tricky table 4 to surprise finalists Maxi McDonnell & Paul Lawson.
The very experienced Oxon pairing took out leading fancies Beer & Collins in the third round as well.
The final though was a bit one way. I played the table out in the first, Maxi left his break short in the second and Rick knocked up a 10k break and touched on. Paul did finish off to give them a squeak in the last two frames. Ricky kicked off with 6k in the third putting us 30k up in total, even Maxi & Paul at their best would struggle to pull that back. Maxi followed Rick but to no avail and i added another 3k for a 3-0 victory ;D

[Chunky Monkeys other half]

Congratulations KT and Rick

[Chunky Monkey]

Well done Kev and Ricky

[fazza]

I would like to congratulate Jean Brackenridge (she'll always be Over to me) for winning the very first BLOW J&B award for her high break. £60 buys an awful lot of bacardi, probably even a week's supply, eh Jean.

Thinking about it afterwards, perhaps the prize should have been £69, so I will put the other £9 into the charity funds on Jean's behalf. OK?

[Hammy]

sirkt said:

Thanks everyone :)
Great competition as usual and well done to the organisers for a smoothly run weekend.
Well done to my partner Rick, he didn`t get much of a look-in on saturday but from the quarter finals on, he was superb.
The semi against Paul & Bernie was always going to be tough, my run-out in the first with 17k, Bernies almost run-out in the second with 13k followed by Rick`s in the third game with 14k.
Paul needed 18,700 in the last, possible, but the table only ran 16-10, so he couldn`t make a mistake. Unfortunately he broke down over 2k and that was that.
I must say that we did expect to play Gareth & Richard in the final for an all Sussex match up but they lost 3-1 on the tricky table 4 to surprise finalists Maxi McDonnell & Paul Lawson.
The very experienced Oxon pairing took out leading fancies Beer & Collins in the third round as well.
The final though was a bit one way. I played the table out in the first, Maxi left his break short in the second and Rick knocked up a 10k break and touched on. Paul did finish off to give them a squeak in the last two frames. Ricky kicked off with 6k in the third putting us 30k up in total, even Maxi & Paul at their best would struggle to pull that back. Maxi followed Rick but to no avail and i added another 3k for a 3-0 victory ;D

Well done to Kev and Rick and well done to Si and Ian on winning the plate.

[NigelS]

Great weekened, well done to Kev and Rick for winning, and good to see a bit of a surprise in Maxi and Paul making the final, 2 good players who took out some good pairs to make the final.

Well done also to Simon and the Colemanator for winning the plate.

Dave Alder also did a great job running the tournament for the first time.

[Dave The Shirt]

well done to ian and simon on winning the plate great news for northants shame chris and jason couldnt have made it a double for us.
i didnt get comments on my silly shirts , looks like next year i will have to get some REALLY outrageous shirts with my name on
well at least this year i won a game which i hadnt done before so roll on next year
from dave the shirt

[Colemanator]

daveevans said:

i didnt get comments on my silly shirts ,

I did on my boots though ;D

Thanks all 8-)

[peetee]

Well done Maxi and Paul a great achievement on reaching the final :) :)

Congratulations to Rick & KT

Pete Ewins
Oxford Sec

[fazza]

Has anybody else noticed that a few events seemed to have changed their names recently?

I have mentioned this one before, but the Alternative Rules has become the Alternate Rules, the National Team Championship has been called many different things recently, and
the Bournemouth Pairs and the AEBBA Pairs used to be the British Isles Open Pairs.

[JB]

......... and Jean Over now Jean Brackenridge ;) ;D ;D

Still confuses a lot of people including myself!!

[Ros]

It certainly was a lovely weekend, it was great to meet some of you 8-) we'll be back next year :)

Thanks to the organisers and those involved in the supply and setup of the tables :)

Congrats to Kevin and Rick, also to Ian and Simon on the plate.

Congratulations also to Jean for the BLOW J&B ladies high break, also to Tony Jenner (bigTJ) and Andy Wilson for winning the Achievement Award.

Most exciting game, in my opinion, was the quarter final between Jason (Hammy) and Chris (Lolly) versus Richard and Gareth. Richard was travelling well until 11.5k when he had a close encounter with a peg and decided to touch on to bank his break.
After a few turns at the back of the table, Richard was soon back on the break to finish the first leg at 14,170 to 100.
Jason took the next break, playing the table out to the last ball for 14,010, therefore needing just 100 for victory. As is often the case in that situation, every player had at least one turn at this, before Richard finally put it away at his second attempt.

Most exciting shot I saw was made by Marcus, who needed to catch up just 1500. He'd made 500 of it at the back, mainly chasing just one ball between the 30 and 20 holes. Finally, in frustration, he adjusted to the point of risking the cue ball going straight down the 30 without touching, therefore gave the shot a certain amount of 'wellie' - only to see the object ball sail smartly down the table straight into the 200 hole!
However, although that gave him the break back, he only just caught up his opponents with that turn. But it proved to be the turning point of the game, with Lee making it safe soon after. I must remember that shot!

Low points of the weekend - first of all Arthur having to rush home Friday night because his wife was taken into hospital (although he was able to return later) and then Gary and Anna having to dash off in the middle of Saturday dinner because their son-in-law had been hospitalised with a serious asthma attack and they were needed to look after their step-grandchildren (thankfully he is now fine and out of hospital)

The hotel was really good, with very high standards of food and service from unfailingly cheerful and committed staff. 8-)

[Colemanator]

fazza said:

Has anybody else noticed that a few events seemed to have changed their names recently?

the Bournemouth Pairs and the AEBBA Pairs used to be the British Isles Open Pairs.

prefer the original name, sounds more prestigious IMO.

[butchiebigboy]

Both Maxi & myself would like to relay our congratulations to both Kevin & Rick for winning the final, obliviously we would have liked to have won but I think that was probably wishful thinking on our behalf as we were totally outplayed, it would have been a tall order to have matched Kevin's excellent opening break as neither Maxi or myself are particularly quick players or in the same league.
Having not entered the Bournemouth Pairs for a number of years and striking up a new partnership we would have been over the moon to have reached the last 16, so to reach the final (don't know how) was out of this world and an unbelivable experience, I think we will be riding on cloud nine for a few days to come, so we will make hay whilst it shines.
Many thanks to all the organisers and for those persons involved in setting up the tables over the weekend.

[peetee]

butchiebigboy said:

Both Maxi & myself would like to relay our congratulations to both Kevin & Rick for winning the final, obliviously we would have liked to have won but I think that was probably wishful thinking on our behalf as we were totally outplayed, it would have been a tall order to have matched Kevin's excellent opening break as neither Maxi or myself are particularly quick players or in the same league.
Having not entered the Bournemouth Pairs for a number of years and striking up a new partnership we would have been over the moon to have reached the last 16, so to reach the final (don't know how) was out of this world and an unbelivable experience, I think we will be riding on cloud nine for a few days to come, so we will make hay whilst it shines.
Many thanks to all the organisers and for those persons involved in setting up the tables over the weekend.

Well put on your 1st post 8-)

[fazza]

butchiebigboy said:

.... so to reach the final (don't know how) was out of this world and an unbelivable experience.....

I'll tell you how! You beat a lot of good players and deserved your place. "Obliviously" it was just a pity you could not put any pressure on your opponents in the final, but very well done from me for preventing a "boring" all-Sussex final ;D :o

[Ros]

butchiebigboy said:

so to reach the final (don't know how) was out of this world and an unbelivable experience

I'll tell you how too.

I watched your semi-final from the best seat in the house, you both got your heads down and grafted for every ball, in the end outplaying your [much tipped] opponents comprehensively.

What stands out in my mind was Maxi's opening break in the last game. You were 7,800 up after the first three legs, Maxi obviously knew that "all he had to do" was stay at the table and put up a reasonable break, but an early slip would have let in Richard, who I think was the next on.

The pressure was clearly showing on Maxi's face, but he carefully put up 4,800 (I think) in about 6/7 mins (I didn't time it) which made it almost impossible for you to be caught on a table that was never going to be quick to score on, with the white not going in 'clean'.

Congratulations on deservedly making the final and welcome to the forum 8-)

[butchiebigboy]

Many thanks for them kind words Pete, like you stated it would have been nice to have applied ourselves a bit more in the Final and made a fight of it, but I don't think that Kevin suffers from pressure too much.

[fazza]

Oh, everybody suffers from pressure, some more than others, but I wasn't talking about Kevin.