THE Blowes Shield, named in honour of the late Cyril Blowes, a life member of the club, is Nelson Bay Croquet Club’s annual handicap Golf Croquet doubles competition.

The 2022 championship was played on Sunday 16 October 2022.

A fine day greeted the sixteen members entered in the competition.

Two blocks seeded on handicap were formed with each block playing a round-robin of three 13-point games each, with each game limited to 50 minutes.

Block A: Karen Lilly and Rae Uptin, Rob Batho and Ian Spight, Jane Scorer and Greg Long, and Jeff Pettifer and Barry Schultz.

Block B: Ann Barrett and Rod Peet, Ralph Harrison and David Wilson, Faby Batho and Marion. Graff, and Beryl and Col Chalkley.

In Block A, Rob and Ian won three games from three to top the block with Karen and Rae second with two wins from three.

In Block B, Ann and Rod won three games from three to top the block with Ralph and David second with two wins from three.

In the final, Rob and Ian skipped out to a two-hoop lead over Ann and Rod but the remainder of the game was a close affair with hoops traded both ways.

Rob and Ian maintained the two-hoop advantage winning 5-3 when the 50 minute time limit was reached.

In other news:

Peter Gordon won his 5th and 6th State Titles of 2022 at the NSW Division 3 Ricochet Croquet Championships held at Maitland Croquet Club.

The Doubles were played Monday 17 and 18 October with the Singles played Wednesday 19 to Friday 21 October 2022.

Both championships were played as 26-point games with a time limit of 2 hours for each game.

In the Doubles, Peter played with David Rush of Killara Croquet Club. Associate members Ann Barrett and Rod Peet also played in the competition.

With just four pairs entered, the competition was played as a round-robin qualifying block with all four pairs advancing to a seeded knock-out semi-final and final.

Peter and David won two of three qualifying games to finish 2nd in the block, losing only to Phil Monds and Darren Warner of EDSACC.

In the semi-final, Peter and David beat Cecily Mahoney (Sawtell) & Lynette Stewart (Gloucester) 13-5. In the final, they played Phil & Darren again, this time winning 15-5 to claim the title.

The Singles attracted six entries including Peter and associate member Ann.

Again, the competition was played as a round-robin qualifying block with all six players advancing to a seeded knock-out stage.

Peter was unbeaten in the qualifying round-robin, five wins and +40 hoops, to finish top of the block and advance straight to the semi final.

Peter beat Ann 17-2 in the semi-final before taking the title with a 26-1 win over Graham Heydon (Maitland) in the final. Ann finished 3rd beating Janine Crellin (Taree) 13-5 in a play-off.

Not only does Peter currently hold sixState titles but remarkably these cover all three codes of the game, Golf, Ricochet and Association.

By David WILSON