Edinburgh Tournament 2013
5-10 August 2013, Fettes College
After a noticeably depleted event in 2012, when only 16 people took part in the singles events, the Edinburgh Tournament had a modest resurgence this year. Although the number of Association Croquet players was actually down on last year (26 against 29), they entered more events on average, and in particular fewer of them played only doubles. There were 96 full-length games played, plus two 14-point tie-breakers, against last year's very low total of 83 games. For the first time there was also a Golf Croquet competition, played mostly on Friday with the final on Saturday, and this attracted six additional entrants alongside six AC/GC players, who together played 31 GC games and all seemed to enjoy the occasion.
John Surgenor was also resurgent, winning both the Open and the handicap knockout and getting his handicap down from 1 to 0, close to his level in the 1990s when he played off -0.5.
It was good to have two first-time visitors from Fylde in Lancashire, Lee Hartley and Betty Bates. Along with Fettes veteran Norman Hicks they made up the contingent from outside Scotland; Graham Brightwell had intended to enter but was prevented by injury. There were also two Scottish players taking part in the singles here for the first time, having played only doubles last year: Bob Darling and Lyn Gilpin.
The tournament began as usual on Monday with the first two rounds of the big handicap (Event 6), which had 15 entrants and produced a wide-ranging set of semi-finalists: John Surgenor (handicap 1 at the start of the tournament), Jamieson Walker (8), Jola Jurasinska (18) and Alan Wilson (3). The semi-finals were deferred till later in the week, and in the meantime there were games in the flexible Swiss section of this event - in which the first three of the above remained undefeated until Saturday, though Alan had some losses on Thursday.
Tuesday was devoted mainly to the class events: Event 1 (Open) with six players, Event 2 (4+ advanced) with three, Event 3 (8+ advanced with bisques) with four, and Event 4 (14+ handicap) with four. These were continued on Thursday, with one further game in the Open on Friday morning, and the position on Saturday was as follows. John Surgenor was unbeaten in the Open, and had only to play Brian Murdoch, who had lost one game. In the 4+, where the three contestants were playing one another twice, Janice Duguid was ahead with three wins from her four games, but could be equalled by Allan Hawke if he beat Bob Darling on Saturday morning. In the 8+ there was a three-way tie involving Betty Bates, Hamish Duguid and Jamieson Walker, which was to be resolved by two rounds of 14-point tie-breakers. In the 14+ Roger Binks and Alistair Malcolm each had two wins, but Roger was still to play David Houston - so if he won that game Roger would win the block outright but if he lost he would have a playoff with Alistair.
Wednesday was mostly doubles (Event 5), with 11 pairs taking part. Robert Inder and Vivien Wightman progressed to the main final (scheduled for Saturday), as did Betty Bates and Lee Hartley; the Y final would put Ruth Goudie and David Houston against Charlotte Townsend and Rod Williams.
Thursday's games included the Event 6 semi-finals, in which John Surgenor beat Jamieson Walker (+3) and Jola Jurasinska beat Alan Wilson (+19).
The Golf Croquet on Friday was played as handicap singles in two blocks of six players. No one was undefeated, but each block did have a clear winner with four wins from five games: Ruth Munro in Block A, and George Geis in Block B.
So Saturday had a full programme of finals and tie-breakers. In the morning John and Jola played the Event 6 knockout final; Jola used six of her 18 bisques to take her first ball to penult, John peeled it and pegged it out, the remaining 12 bisques ran out at 4-back, and John won +4. In Event 2 Bob beat Allan to leave Janice the winner without a tie-breaker. In the Event 3 14-point playoffs, Betty beat Jamieson +5 but lost 4-8 to Hamish. In Event 4 David beat Roger, who therefore went into a tie-breaker against Alistair in the afternoon.
The doubles finals were played on Saturday afternoon, as is traditional. Less traditionally, neither the main (X) nor the consolation (Y) final went to time: Robert and Vivien beat Lee and Betty +19 with the aid of their eight bisques, and Ruth and David beat Rod and Charlotte +16 using their 10 bisques. Roger beat Alistair in the Event 4 decider. A final was played in Event 6 Swiss between Jola and Jamieson, and Jola won +13 to finish on six wins from seven games (including her loss in the knockout final). And in Event 1 Brian inflicted John's only defeat of the week, +26, to force a tie-breaker, in which John recovered with a +21 win. The Golf Croquet final was also played, and George beat Ruth 7-6.
The Lauder Bowl is awarded to the player getting furthest without winning any of the other trophies. Sometimes it's a difficult job working out who should get it, but this year it was clear that it should go to Betty, who had been on the losing side in two finals (Events 3 and 5); she also came out just behind Jola in Event 6 Swiss, with five wins from seven games, having lost only to Jamieson and John.
Fergus McInnes
Results
Event 1, Open Singles (Advanced Play): John Surgenor
Event 2, Advanced Singles (handicaps 4 and over): Janice Duguid
Event 3, Advanced with Bisques (handicaps 8 and over): Hamish Duguid
Event 4, Handicap Singles (handicaps 14 and over): Roger Binks
Event 5, Handicap Doubles, X: Robert Inder and Vivien Wightman
Event 5 Y: Ruth Goudie and David Houston
Event 6, Handicap Singles (unrestricted), X: John Surgenor
Event 6 Swiss: Jola Jurasinska
Lauder Bowl: Betty Bates
Golf Croquet: George Geis