Beautify your day with the game baixar jogos casanik. You will be satisfied! Once again we are delighted to report success for Penicuik players at a National competition.  This time the stakes were huge, with places at next year’s Men’s World Championships up for grabs.  Penicuik were represented by Stephane Maurage (playing with Paul Bretenoux (Stirling), Johnny Wilson and Robbie Stronach (both from Fochabers)) and Colin Stewart (playing with Istvan Poka (Troon) and Derek Adam (Inverleith)).

Do you feel like kind of worn out after working? Let’s kick off playing with the kostenlos book of ra spielen. You will have time to recharge! Fochabers PC were the hosts for the weekend long competition between the top 12 ranked teams in the country.  The format was a Round Robin resulting in 11 games.

Stephane’s team were drawn to play Colin’s team in round 2 making for an early showdown, both teams being amongst the favourites to take the title overall.  With so much at stake tensions were very high and the round 2 match lasted well over two hours.  The lead changed hands a few times in the game and both teams had the chance to close out the game but failed to take the chance.  In the end Colin’s team won the match 13-11 which put them in a strong position early on.  But they knew Stephane’s team would in all likelihood would be snapping at their heels from then on.  Colin’s team needed to keep winning.

Sadly, a narrow loss in round 4 against a team of players from Perth who played out their skins meant that Colin’s team’s strong position did not last long.  With Stephane’s team restoring their winning ways for the rest of the day, both teams ended day one with 5 wins from 6 with Stephane’s team having superior points difference and holding the lead narrowly.

Day two brought the threat of seriously bad weather although, in the end, all the players had to contend with were a few heavy showers and blustery wind.  Colin’s team won their first 3 games whilst a slip from Stephane’s team in round 9 caused the lead to change hands once more.   If Colin’s team could win their last two games they would be the winners without worrying about what any other team did.

Colin’s team lost their 10th round game however, leaving the whole competition outcome unsure going into the final round.  By this time there were 3 teams (including Pretty Vacant from Fochabers who had quietly ‘come up on the rails’ on 8 wins from 10 and any one of them could win the title.

Pretty Vacant posted a strong final round win to really put the pressure on both Colin’s and Stephane’s teams.  Colin’s team won a scrappy final game by a three point margin leaving them narrowly in second place with one game still going – that of Stephane’s team.  If Stephane’s team won they game they would be champions, if not they would fall into 3rd place.

In the end, Stephane’s team won a very tense game 13-11 to take the title.  Although 3 teams had 9 wins from 11 they had the better points difference. Colin’s team had to settle for a disappointing 3rd place.

So congratulations to Stephane who will be part of the team to travel to Tahiti in November 2014 for the Men’s World Championships.  Stephane and Colin also did enough to qualify for the Scotland A squad for the Celtic Challenge in May next year, also in Fochabers.

The annual Home Nations International (Scotland v England v Wales) was hosted by Inverlieth Petanque Club on 10-11th August.  Penicuik had one player in the squad – Colin Stewart.

Sadly, Scotland finished last on 34 wins, Wales were second on 35 and England retained the trophy with 75 wins.

Colin, playing with his regular partners of Derek Adam (Inverlieth PC) and Istvan Poka (Troon PC) played well all weekend and racked up 8 wins from a possible 12 to finish as Scotland’s most successful team over the weekend with 3 wins from 6 against English opponents and 5 wins from 6 against the Welsh.

We are confident that is only a matter of time before more Penicuik players qualify for the Scotland squad in future.  

3 Penicuik players (Bob ‘Cat’ Macdonald, John McAllister and Colin Stewart) competed at the Scottish Singles and Doubles on 27th/28th July at Inverleith Park, Edinburgh.

Out of 21 entrants in the Singles, Bob didn’t have his best day with 20th place but John finished a creditable 9th and Colin finished in 2nd.

In the Doubles sadly John and Bob only managed 11th place but Colin with his partner Istvan Poka (Troon) continued their fine form and retained the title.

Next weekend sees the Home Nations (Scotland v England v Wales) return to Edinburgh and Penicuik has a representation – Colin.  The competition has been dominated by England since its inception in 2000 (England have won every year, often by a high margin).  There are some signs that the Scottish team might put up a better fight this time round.  We can only hope!

Penicuik will host the Scottish Triples Championships on 1st September 2013. This will be the first time that Penicuik has hosted a national title. The Scottish Triples will see many of Scotlands best senior teams compete.

Two members of the Penicuik Petanque committee attended the SPA AGM on Sunday 21 October. The salient points are:

2 motions were passed unanimously, to make minor changes to the constitution and introduce a new Youth Development Officer post. Both were proposed by Colin Stewart of Penicuik.

The new National Executive Committee is as follows:

President: Colin Stewart Penicuik
Vice President: Shirley Legge Fochabers
Honorary Secretary: Lynn Jenkins Fochabers
Honorary Treasurer: Brian Ward Troon
National Coach: Mags Montgomery Inverleith
National Umpire: Colin Montgomery Inverleith
Publicity Officer: Shirley Legge Fochabers
Youth Development Officer: Colin Stewart Penicuik
Ordinary Member: Jean Hutcheson Perth
Ordinary Member: Emma Montgomery Inverleith
Ordinary Member: Douglas Hamilton Perth
Ordinary Member: Paul Bretenoux Birds & Bees
Ordinary Member: John Wilson Fochabers

Three players from Penicuik competed in the 2012 Scottish Masters at Inverleith PC. The Masters in the culmination of the National season, with the competition being used to select the Scotland Squad for three competitions next year (The Men’s European Championships, Celtic Challenge and Home Nations).

John and Bob played with their regular partner, Eileen Moonie, and brought in Ed Strachan from Perth as their 4th as Eileen was not able to play all games. In their first year of competition, John and Bob had done well to qualify for the competition. In the end they managed 3 wins over the weekend, finishing 11th. This means they did not qualify outright for the Scotland squad sadly.

Colin played with his usual partners, Derek Adam and Istvan Poka. Having won the 2012 Grand Prix Series, the team were confident of a strong showing and felt they had a good chance of winning. Sadly it was not to be this time, they finished 2nd and therefore are selected to represent Scotland at the Celtic Challenge (in Wales) and the Home Nations (in Edinburgh) next year.

Well done to all. We hope more players from Penicuik will compete next year…