Linskill Triumph in the Triples

Eddie Miller and the Wattsies (Chris & Sue) have become the 64th winners of the Irene Ward Triples.

Played on Saturday 19 August at the home of North Shields West End (The Parks) they came out on top in the tournament featuring 11 teams from four clubs - NSWE (5), Tynemouth, Crawford Park and Northumberland Linskill (2 teams each).

Split into four groups, each team played three 7-end matches with the group winners qualifying for the semi finals.

NL Team A comprising last year's finalists Ron & Keith, ably supported by Lynne, unfortunately lost their first two games but won their third against future semi finalists from NSWE. Sadly, this meant they exited at the group stage.

Team B (Eddie as lead, Sue in the middle and Chris as skip) got off to a flyer beating a team from NSWE 11-2. Their second game was a bye (as Rockcliffe were unable to appear) and counted as a 5-0 win, but they lost their 3rd match 11-3. Nonetheless with 2 'wins' and much to their surprise (Sue had packed up and was ready to go) they qualified for the semi finals along with three teams from NSWE, all of which were playing on their home green.

After six ends of the semi final they were 3-5 down, but after the first eight woods of the final end Sue had them lying 1. Chris made it 2 but the opposition skip then took one back before Chris' final wood took it back to 2. A very close measure for 3 didn't work out meaning it was 5-5 and additional end was needed. After the first eight woods they were 3 down, but Chris bowled in to about 3cms in front of the jack and then put his second bowl directly in front about 40cms short of the jack - a perfect blocker. The opposition skip managed to shift the blocker but that wasn't enough and so the game was won 6-5.

The final was played against Bill, Sally & Geoff from NSWE who had beaten our trio 11-3 in the group games. This time the result was to be much improved. In brief, the game was tied at 1-1 after two ends before our trio developed a 7-1 lead after five ends. Knowing they just needed to keep it tight for the final two ends, Chris managed to draw one onto the jack and with their opponents unable to do anything the lead became unassailable at 8-1, meaning the final end wasn't required.

Congratulations Chris, Sue and Eddie - Northumberland Linskill winners! Thanks to Ron, Keith and Lynne for their support and to NSWE for hosting and organising.

They say winning the first trophy is the hardest - let's hope this is the start of a run of success.