The 2012 Penicuik Open Pairs competition was held at Beeslack High School, Penicuik on Sunday 19th August. 13 pairs from across the country joined us, with teams from Inverness, Fochabers, Perth, Peebles and Edinburgh. But the furthest travelled award went to Brian and Zena Forbes who joined us all the way from Nottingham. We are very grateful to all who travelled so far to make our event a success. It was good to new faces and old (some were very old!) join in.
The morning’s play (qualifiers for the afternoon’s main competition) was a ‘league’ format with a leagues of 4,6 (3 games only) and 3 teams respectively. The best 8 teams from the leagues would fight it out for the title in the afternoon, with the other 5 teams going into the plate competition.
The weather was hot to begin with, but gradually cooled as the day went on and the inevitable downpour commenced at around 3 pm. At least we were able to provide shelter for the players this year in the form of our new yellow gazebo which was kindly part funded by Penicuik & District Community Council.
The afternoon’s plate (a 5 team round robin with games restricted to 9 points) resulted in two teams being level at the top of the table – Ernie Burden / John Porter and Christine Thompson / Douglas Hamilton both had 3wins +18 points. A count back revealed that Ernie and John had won the ‘head to head’ game and therefore were crowned the plate winners.
In the main competition, the first round saw Robbie Stronach and John Wilson drawn against their international team mates Paul Bretenoux and Stephane Maurage (all four will be competing together for Scotland at the World Championships in Marseille in November). A close game ensued and Robbie and John emerged with the win and went through to the semi final to keep their hopes of defending their title alive.
The other semi finalists were Colin & Mags Montgomery, Zena & Brian Forbes and Ed Strachan and Alison Swiffin.
Robbie & John beat Colin & Mags while Ed & Alison won against Brian & Zena in the semis.
In the 3rd/4th playoff, Colin & Mags won against Brian & Zena to take 3rd place.
The final was a close affair, but Ed and Alison managed to get over the line first to wrestle the trophy from 2011 winners Robbie & John.
Congratulations to all. Win or lose we hope you enjoyed the day and we hope to see you again at our next open competition in 2013. We are very grateful for all the support we receive from our pétanque friends across Scotland and, now, Nottingham (we will have to make a reciprocal visit next year, plans will be made!).
Colin Stewart
Penicuik Petanque