There was a great sense of occasion about the 25th running of the James Gordon Insurance open men’s pairs tournament on Saturday June 20th. The background of the Highland Games in Victoria Park; the number of spectators watching from the park; the maximum number of entries; and a beautiful day all added to the occasion.
It was also a special occasion because we were honouring Jim and Ruth Gordon for over forty years of service to the club and although they are no longer members they continue to support the club through sponsorship of this tournament. To mark their contribution they were presented with a Certificate of Appreciation and a bouquet of flowers on behalf of the club.
We had strong teams from Peterborough, Oshawa, Whitby, Port Hope, Campbellford, Agincourt and Willowdale. Eight teams from our club completed the maximum possible number of 24 teams.
Each team played three twelve end games with points being accumulated throughout the tournament. Given the number of entries there would be three teams with undefeated records so the deciding factor would be points scored. There were several close games in the first round and the Cobourg teams of Steve Haslam/Ralph Hewitt and Dave Shirley/Bob Tough were particularly unlucky in that both teams had tied games but lost on an extra end tie breaker. Dave Carleton and Ben Van Steijn had a narrow 11-10 win and the other Cobourg winner in the first round was Ralph Stoffers and Bill Arthur with a 9-5 win. Unfortunately the two winning Cobourg teams were drawn against one another in the second round. Ralph and Bill won that game but they had the lowest points total at that stage (20) which reduced their chances of winning the trophy. The six undefeated teams after the second round were separated by only eight points so it was all to play for in the final round and ultimately there was only one point between the top two teams of Al Handlechner/Bob Reynolds (Peterborough) and Gord Terwillegar/Jim Butler (Oshawa).
In the final round Ralph and Bill had a very tight and tense game which was decided in their favour by an extra end tiebreaker. That gave them third place. It’s always nice to have a home team amongst the prizes. Dave Shirley and Bob Tough were the next highest home team with 2 wins and 41 points, just losing out on prize money by nature of Al Purcell’s 41+7 points.
The full results are on the results page and photos from the day are on the photos page.
It was also a special occasion because we were honouring Jim and Ruth Gordon for over forty years of service to the club and although they are no longer members they continue to support the club through sponsorship of this tournament. To mark their contribution they were presented with a Certificate of Appreciation and a bouquet of flowers on behalf of the club.
We had strong teams from Peterborough, Oshawa, Whitby, Port Hope, Campbellford, Agincourt and Willowdale. Eight teams from our club completed the maximum possible number of 24 teams.
Each team played three twelve end games with points being accumulated throughout the tournament. Given the number of entries there would be three teams with undefeated records so the deciding factor would be points scored. There were several close games in the first round and the Cobourg teams of Steve Haslam/Ralph Hewitt and Dave Shirley/Bob Tough were particularly unlucky in that both teams had tied games but lost on an extra end tie breaker. Dave Carleton and Ben Van Steijn had a narrow 11-10 win and the other Cobourg winner in the first round was Ralph Stoffers and Bill Arthur with a 9-5 win. Unfortunately the two winning Cobourg teams were drawn against one another in the second round. Ralph and Bill won that game but they had the lowest points total at that stage (20) which reduced their chances of winning the trophy. The six undefeated teams after the second round were separated by only eight points so it was all to play for in the final round and ultimately there was only one point between the top two teams of Al Handlechner/Bob Reynolds (Peterborough) and Gord Terwillegar/Jim Butler (Oshawa).
In the final round Ralph and Bill had a very tight and tense game which was decided in their favour by an extra end tiebreaker. That gave them third place. It’s always nice to have a home team amongst the prizes. Dave Shirley and Bob Tough were the next highest home team with 2 wins and 41 points, just losing out on prize money by nature of Al Purcell’s 41+7 points.
The full results are on the results page and photos from the day are on the photos page.