Seacourt were once again proud to host the LRTA handicap mixed doubles sponsored by Addison Law. The tournament ran fashionably late due to the plethora of 6/5 matches throughout the weekend which is testament to the handicap system but not good for the tournaments organisers!!

The format was a round robin competition, with the top two teams going through to the knock out stages and with Seacourt players docked three points to give away players a fair chance to compete on the court. Last year's champions, Gill Goddard and Bruce Burton tried very hard to defend their title but bowed out in the group stage, after tying second in the group but losing out in the games against count back!

The knock out stages saw the balance of enjoyment and the competitive edge to win in full flow with everyone embracing the ethos of the completion. Ros and John Hedges had an exceptional run in the tournament by knocking out home court players, Jess Garside & Lewis Davies (6.4) and Sian Medlow and Louis Gordon (6.3) on their way to reach the semi finals and looked good to take the title. Pam and Tim Tomalin were also on a great run of victories over Jess Bethell & Max Gunning (6/2) and Lucy Hutchinson and Peter Swiss (6.3) and secured a semi final show down of the "Married Couples". All the solicitors in the club looked nervous at the prospect of working on the weekend and made themselves absent in fear of marital spats, but their fears where ungrounded!!! After a great match that could have gone either way Pam and Tim found the winning shots to reach the final with a 6/4 win over Ros and John Hedges.

Nick Jones & Karen Hird had a controversial win over Alex Garside and Josh Dodgson. The match couldn't have been closer or better matched and inevitably went to 5/5, with a lipped out grill attempt that Alex and Josh thought was a winner ended up going against them was all that Nick and Karen needed to reach the semi final. There they met Angela Reichardt and PJ Probyn who had had a string of fine wins and kept up the pace and took full advantage of the handicap against Nick and Karen and romped into the final with a 6.1 win.

The final was best of one 8 game set, Nick and Alex where back on speaking terms and the solicitors returned to the dedans to enjoy the final, confident again of a work free weekend!

The finalists:
[Alex Garside] Tim & Pam Tomalin with Angela Reichardt & PJ Probyn [Chris Halliwell]

Pam and Tim were relentless against Angela and PJ taking full control of the match, despite every effort from Angela and PJ who couldn't find their earlier winning form and Pam and Tim won the title 8.2 in front of a packed dedans.

 

Many thanks to Chris Halliwell for his generous sponsorship through Addison Law, which included a fabulous Pimms party prior to the dinner. Also thanks to the LRTA and especially Alex Garside whose work behind the scenes was hugely appreciated and very successful. Lastly a very big thank you to Dan Jones, Adam Player and the Seacourt team for once again hosting the event and providing the hospitality that is the envy of the Real Tennis world.

Dan Jones