Talk Tenpin

YAC Triple Crown

4^th – 5^th October 2008

The best of England, Scotland, Wales & Guernsey’s Under 24s yet again came together to compete in the YAC Triple Crown; filled with bowling, banter & the banquet, this year held in Ilkeston.

This year’s teams saw strength in numbers across the squad with a few new faces after last year. The teams consisted of Martin Ashton, Matt Hann, Adam Michaels, Adam Purnell, Ray Teece & Richard Teece for the Men along with Lesley Brown, Laura Ivory, Michaela Knight, Sarah Purnell, Rachel Rawlings & Hayley White for the Women.

Friday night was the arrival day either at the Ramada Jarvis in Nottingham or the bowl depending what time everyone got there, for a meal and ‘official practice’ at around 9pm. I got to the hotel and most people had already arrived from our squad and intended to attend the meal which was at Weatherspoons round the corner from the bowl, with a slightly exaggerated walking time!! Everyone that didn’t manage to make the meal arrived at the bowl whilst we were at Weatherspoons or before 9 for the practice.

When we all returned the other country’s squads had started to arrive, whether to practice or get acclimated to the bowl before Saturday morning. We got down to our pair. . .yes pair of lanes for 12 bowlers, for our practice. Then again with only 12 lanes and a league you can’t expect too much! This was rather enjoyable with everyone warming up together and then having a few games of rotating baker with 6 people. I’m sure the boys would like me to point out we won the first three out of four games too haha!

Everyone returned to the hotel to get to their rooms for a wind down and to get settled before heading off to bed in preparation for the long weekend ahead! Although some of us that were still hungry went to get some more food haha!

An early rise for everyone Saturday morning to get some breakfast and to get sorted for the opening ceremony at 9am. The opening ceremony, being held in such a small centre, was a simple and short one! We stood around for a bit for photos afterward and then allowed the women to get ready for the singles at half 9.

And we’re off. . . .as they would say, as the women get underway. We had heard about the lane pattern(s) that were going to be used all day Friday and in the morning and with most of the men watching the women bowl it was hard to tell what would be out there. In the end, we discovered later that we were bowling on the long pattern for the singles, out of the long and short that would be used all weekend.

Scores started off a little lower than par for the first few games with Sarah Purnell taking the lead out of game 1 with a 211. The lanes looking as tricky as they were it was understandable the scores being what they were.

By the 3^rd game the lanes were starting to breakdown, but who would take advantage before moving pairs after the first three?? Three games over 230 were bowled this game with people making pushes to get their pinfall up with the highest being Lynsey Duncan of Wales shooting 245. Sarah Purnell still leads after the first three with 615 looking solid to make her stand for the gold with the rest of our girls looking steady for medal contention also!

The lane change didn’t help most as the lane breakdown started catching people out whilst they adjusted to the condition. Anne Marie Williams of Wales looked set to catch up some pins as she shot 227 and the highest of the 4^th game and Emma Butchard not far behind also catching up with 215. Pretty much everyone struggled in the next two games with around 190 being the aim to get higher up the table.

Once it was all said and done though the winner of the gold was Sarah Purnell with her consistent shooting ending up with 1214 for her 6 games and the only female over! Winning the silver was Scotland’s Holly Fleming with 1135 just pippin Hayley White into Bronze by 5 pins. Other finishers for England were Kayla Knight – 4^th, Rachel Rawlings – 6^th & Lesley Brown – 12^th.

Now time for the Men’s singles! The fresh looked like it favoured most including yours truly shooting front 7 and 257 the first game and only leading by 4 pins! With the higher rev rates on the lanes the lanes broke down quicker for the guys and most started seeing transition in the 2^nd game, and was enough to set the ball rolling (excuse the pun!). This was most noticeable through the fact that 6 games over 230 were shot this game and 3 above 250 with Scotland’s Mark McQueen being highest with 267 bowling with an injured finger.

After the first 3 games and the lane change Wales’ Sean Griffin leads with 708 and leading by a stick in front of Richie Teece.

Plenty of people were happy with the lanes as soon as they hit their new pair. . .I remember asking Richie if his pair was good. . .”first five” is the answer I got!! Many games over 230 again this game showing that the breakdown was helping some and hurting others. The medals remained in contention until the 5^th game and then it was a fight for Silver and Bronze. . .who took the gold by enough?

Richie Teece is the answer shooting an impressive 1428 over his 6 to take gold by over 50 pins. Adam Michaels’ last game string managed to pip Sean Griffin at the post and take Silver by a single pin with 1371 and Sean getting Bronze with 1370.

Other finishers for England were: Ray Teece – 5^th, Adam Purnell – 7^th, Martin Ashton – 9^th & Matt Hann – 12^th.

After the lane dress and the Singles Medal Ceremony the women went on for the doubles and we all noticed straight away something was different . . . we had the short for the doubles!

This certainly made things interesting for the evening as the men eagerly cheered on the women and took notice of the lanes. Being short the scores were lower across the board as the lanes were a lot tougher now, the highest team game to start the doubles off was 378 from England’s pairing of Hayley White & Rachel Rawlings. More than most found the lanes to not get any more forgiving as the day’s play went on and the scores showed who would grit it out the most and who wanted the medal more than anyone else.

After it was said and done it was England’s Hayley White & Rachel Rawlings taking gold in the women’s doubles with a combined score of 1175 including Hayley’s great showing on the short with a 676. Taking Silver was another of England’s pairs, this time Lesley Brown & Michaela Knight taking it by one stick with 1103 in front of Wales’ pairing of Lynsey Duncan & Anne Marie Williams shooting 1102.

Laura Ivory & Sarah Purnell were not far off a medal in the doubles shooting 1094 and finishing 4^th.

Now time for the men to ‘have fun’ with the short pattern in the doubles! It seemed like out of practice this was a favourable pattern with the gutters hooking, until 20 seconds into play when everything changed, and it wasn’t just me that noticed!

The Scottish pair of Michael Bruce & Paul Bennett took full advantage in the first game of all the extra friction on the lane and shot 422 their first game to take the lead, followed by Adam Purnell & Richie Teece with 397.

Some people started to get a bit more comfortable with the pattern after the first game having nothing like they did in practice and some scores started to show. The highest game in the 2^nd game was the English pairing of Adam Michaels & Me with 420 to pull in front of the Scots and fight for the gold.

After is was all said and done it was the Scottish pairing of Michael Bruce & Paul Bennett that took the gold in the doubles on the strength of their 414 last game to shoot 1158 between them. Taking Silver was Adam Michaels & I shooting 1151. Taking the Bronze was another English pair of Adam Purnell & Richie Teece shooting 1109. The pair of Matt Hann & Martin Ashton finished 7^th in the doubles.

Tonight was a night of reflection on the day’s play, in different ways for most people and looking ahead to the next day knowing that Trios was up first and on the short again!

Sunday rolls around and everyone is up bright and early again to get breakfast and hit the lanes for the trios! The Men and Women will now all bowl at the same time throughout the day so cheering either way was being expected!

I’ll start with the Men’s Trios and out of practice the lanes felt pretty much the same as they did out of practice the day before with other plans of attack being tried by both England teams, Matt Hann even having extra balls bought up for the occasion!!

After the first game it was Guernsey’s trio of Robin Johns, John Gauvain & Matt Southwell that was leading with 557 closely followed by England’s trio of Martin Ashton, Myself & Adam Purnell with 552.

As play moved on it was around the time the lanes would start to carrydown as opposed to breakdown being the short pattern and some liked it and other didn’t. The trio that liked it the most making sure everyone knew was the other England trio of Matt Hann, Richie Teece & Adam Michaels shooting 586 to catch up on the leaders and start making their claim for the gold.

The last game seemed like a battle of wills between all the teams fighting for medals and some more banter being thrown about, especially with me in the second frame of the last game, anyone there would know why! In the end the team to come out on top was. . .England’s trio of Martin Ashton, Myself & Adam Purnell shooting 1675 between us to beat Richie Teece, Matt Hann & Adam Michaels; shooting 1651, to take the Silver medal in front of Wales’ trio of James Footner, Sean Griffin & William Wan, who took the Bronze with a score of 1630.

Onto the Women’s trios now and from what I saw they seemed to be having as much fun as we were on the short again and it was a grind out the whole three games for most. England’s trio of Hayley White, Sarah Purnell & Laura Ivory put their foot on the gas early on shooting 567 to take the lead by a margin and fought all three games to stay there.

As I said before it was a test of wills and yet again it Hayley, Sarah & Laura shooting the high game of the second game with 552 followed by Wales’ trio of Lynsey Duncan, Anne Marie Williams & Laura Rogers shooting 541 to make their case for a medal in the trios.

The third game was when we heard the most noise, from both the Men & Women and for good reason! The medals were truly decided by big margins between all 3 teams in the women’s trios and when the dust had settled it was England’s trio of Hayley, Sarah & Laura that took the gold by over 100 pins shooting 1797 including a huge 681 last game beating everybody including the men for highest game there! Taking the Silver was the Welsh trio of Lynsey, Anne Marie & Laura shooting 1619 with 617 last game to stake their claim to 2^nd place!

Taking the Bronze was the English trio of Rachel, Michaela & Lesley who grinded it out to pip the Scots into 3^rd shooting 1536 between them!

After a lane dress, it was onto the 5person team & mixed doubles, and a lot of noise was sure to follow with these events, especially with it being contested on the long.

This time I’ll start with the women’s team & out of the gate it was England stepping on the gas to start with shooting 986 to take the lead early on! At one point I looked over around the sixth frame and told the guys “the girls are going nuts to start!”

As the lanes brokedown quicker than the girls had in the singles with more people on the pairs more moves were being made and scores sank a little, with Scotland taking the high game for the 2^nd by a pin from England with 874 and hoping to shoot big next game to catch our girls. Unfortunetly for them this was not to be as England decided to fight ever harder and come out on top shooting 1018 in their last game to take the gold in the women’s team event with 2877! Finishing second and taking the Silver was Scotland’s women with Wales’ women’s team taking the Bronze.

Now onto the men, and this was a battle to the last few frames! The first game was high scoring as most men liked the fresh and those who didn’t in the singles found a look they didn’t have before giving the teams a boost! The first game was ruled by England’s men shooting 1117 which included Adam Purnell apologising for being low man with a 214 which we all found quite funny between us!

The second game involved everyone making moves as the lanes broke down quickly and not always favourably, but this time it was Scotland to hit the gas shooting 1032 with the strength of Alex Russell’s 259 to creep up on the English team! Plenty of noise and some jokes were being exchanged all round and everyone felt this is what team events should be like!

The last game was where it all came down to who would want it more and both England and Scotland fought hard for the Gold. . .

In the end it was England’s men that would come out on top shooting 1028 to beat Scotland into 1^st place, with a score of 3090 between us, by 30 pins as Scotland got the Silver shooting 3060. Wales’ men’s team came 3^rd taking the Bronze with their score of 2691.

The mixed doubles ended up being a one horse race with England’s pairing of Matt Hann & Rachel Rawlings taking the gold shooting 1261 with Matt shooting the highest set on the long of Sunday with 710. Scotland’s pairing of Mark McQueen & Laura McEwan took the Silver shooting 1122 whilst the Welsh pair of Carrianne Rogers & Mike Morin took the Bronze shooting 1103.

Onto the All-Events medals and in the Men’s an English sweep with Adam Michaels taking the Gold by a safe margin shooting 3161 and averaging 210 for the tournament. Taking the Silver was Myself shooting 3081 averaging 205 for the weekend. Taking the Bronze was Adam Purnell who was steady all weekend and shooting 3073 averaging 204 for the tournament. Other finishers for the England team were: Richard Teece – 4^th (203 ave), Matt Hann – 10^th (192 ave) & Martin Ashton – 11^th (190 ave).

The Women’s All-Events also saw an England clean sweep with Hayley White taking the Gold medal, shooting 2915 averaging 194 for the tournament. Taking the Silver was Sarah Purnell only 11 pins behind Hayley shooting 2904 and averaging 193 for the weekend. Laura Ivory took the Bronze shooting 2887 and averaging 192 for the tournament. Other finishers for England were: Michaela Knight – 4^th (185 ave), Rachel Rawlings – 7^th (176 ave) & Lesley Brown – 9^th (176 ave)

After all the medal ceremonies and camera flashes left, right and centre everyone went back to the hotel(s) to prepare for the banquet which was free food, dancing and of course, drinking . . . bit hard to talk about a YAC Triple Crown without mentioning drinking at least once haha! Everyone enjoyed themselves all night and some pretty tired faces the next morning to say the least!!

Overall it was a great weekend to say the least, being my first Triple Crown at YAC Level it was an amazing time with great people from all over the British Isles and a lot of fun and laughs were shared by everyone, most of them at the banquet!!

I would like the thank AMF Ilkeston for hosting the event this year, the tournament ran very smoothly with little going wrong and work going in after the tournament Saturday to fix a pair of lanes needed Sunday showed their dedication which was widely appreciated! A big thank you to Dave & Michelle Godfrey also for the scorekeeping and their part in running the event along with everyone else who helped!

That’s all from me!! I hope to see everyone next year wherever that may be!!