The inaugural Bristol Racketlon Open, the first in the south west of
England, attracted 56 entrants, 49 men in classes 'A' to 'C' and 7
ladies, one of which masqueraded as a man...but more of that later.
Each contestant received a personalised welcome pack that included
the rules of Racketlon, start time of their first match, as well as
predicted times for their second match, win or lose.

At the start of the day, the closing of many Bristol city centre
routes due to the Bristol 'sport relief' Mile threatened to prevent
some competitors arriving. Never fear, as a chorus of Bristol accents
rang out to guide the lost into the venue, which is only a stones
throw from the Clifton Suspension Bridge.

The Bristol venue & court layout in particular is tailor made for
Racketlon, with the tennis courts on a raised mezzanine overlooking
the badminton, table tennis & glass backed squash courts. There was
also some court side seating & natural viewing galleries & the
competition standard prove worthy of the watching crowd

Many of the 'usual suspects' were in competition and the event also
attracted a large contingent of new players, at all levels, both
local & from far afield. Natalie, Rob & Jon, the organisers, set a
great standard in promoting the event locally among racket sports
communities & came up trumps.

In the men's 'A' there is a new kid in town & his name is Jermaine
Manners. Jermaine is from Leeds, & in the quarter-finals he ended the
James Greenhead (5th) runaway train with a 12-10;11-6;7-11;9-6
victory. It has to be added that Andy Ewings (10th), another new
entrant, took James all the way in the first round, only losing by 1
point, after leading going into the tennis. Jermaine met Simon Lucas
(3rd) in the semi-final, another 1 point victory & was pitched
against another new entrant, Mark Taylor, in the final. Mark had also
carved out an impressive pedigree, with victory by 4 points over Jon
Foulds (9th) in the first round, a 10 point victory over Simon Hygate
(6th) in the quarter-finals & a 6 point victory over Keenan Hamza
(4th) in the semi-final.

The men's 'A' final was a spectators feast. It is probably fair to
say that table tennis is neither participants strong point, so this
was a tense opener, which Jermaine edged 11-9, after initially being
behind. Jermaine then took a stranglehold on the match with an
impressive 11-2 victory in the badminton, a definite strength,
dropping only 15 badminton points in the whole tournament. Squash
proved to be Mark's strength, though long impressive rallies made for
a tense encounter, but Mark came back into the match with a 11-6
victory. Jermaine was 28-22 up going into the tennis & an 11-8
victory wrapped up the match & the title.

Now blow me down, but there's also a new 'Miss Man' in town as
organiser Natalie Lawrence stepped into the men's 'A' class to avoid
giving a bye to one of the competitors in the first round. Natalie
won her first round match, lost out in her quarter-final & semi-
final, though took a set in each, & was then pitched against fellow
organiser & squeeze Rob Watkins in the play-off for 7th & 8th places.
Natalie strode into the lead after the table tennis, lost out in the
badminton, though retained a 3 point lead, but relented in the
squash, losing 11-2, meaning an 8-3 lead in the tennis saw Rob
through.

In the ladies 'A', with the Cambridge Open winner Natalie Lawrence
battling with the men, 6 competitors, 4 new to Racketlon, all played
each other in a 'wins & points' decider. As it was the eventual
winner, Sarah Thomas, romped to victory in all her matches. The
runner up, Pippa Green, allowed Sarah a narrow 6 point victory in
their encounter & won all her other matches. Dominique Ford came in
third, with 3 victories, the decisive win being that over the
eventual 4th placed Caroline Moore.

In men's class 'B' victory went to Roger Green, taking it after a
final with Andy Smith in which the table tennis & badminton proved
decisive. Roger beat Cambridge Open finalist Gary Jackson (5th) in
the quarter-final & Andy beat the eventual 3rd placed winner Rupert
Knibbs in the semi-final.

The men's 'C' final was decided on a 'Gummiarm Tie-break' with Adam
Edge taking victory over Russell Hays and John McNeil in third place.
For those of you not familiar with a 'gummiarm', if the match is all
tied after all four sets, then a single tennis point decides the
winner. This is not for the faint hearted. Serve is decided by the
drawing of lots or otherwise. The winner chooses who serves or what
end to play at. The loser gets the remaining choice. To off-set the
server's advantage there is no second service in the single point tie-
break, effectively making the serve a nervy second serve. Men's
class 'B' also saw 3 matches decided on a 'gummiarm'.

Overall, on the competition side of things, everything went really
well. On either side of the spectator area were giant 'draw' sheets
with the results posted in double quick time. Many a competitor &
spectators, typically friends & family, could be found studying the
form, for player strengths & weaknesses. For those not packing their
own special match 'fuel', the buffet was a nice addition & the
overall facilities, locker rooms & rest areas, were as good as any.

The presentation ceremony duly arrived with all the winners, first,
second & third in each category receiving trophies & goody bags. The
organisers also ensured all the winners were photographed. There
were also a few of the now familiar special awards.

Rupert Knibbs then thanked the organisers and it only remains to say
thanks to all of you that attended the inaugural Bristol Racketlon
Open (2008) & made it such a great event. Please look out for the
next few tournaments starting with the Carlton & Dunlop British Tour
National Championships on April 12th /13th at Dudley. Then, on the
17th/18th May, is the British Open at Ipswich Sports Club, a World
Tour Challenger event.

So, it just remains to say congratulations to all the winners and
commiserations to all the losers, though remember it is not the
winning, it's the taking part.....yeah right!

Gary Tovey - Cambridge Racketlon Loafer


Official Website of the International Racketlon Federation:
http://www.racketlon.net

Internet Home of International Racketlon since 2001:
http://www.racketlon.com

Official Homepage of the British Racketlon Federation:
http://www.racketlon.co.uk

Facebook Racketlon Group
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=9495401163

Yahoo Sports Group:
http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/UK_RACKETLON/

Racketlon Chat:
http://www.freebok.net/books/Racketlon_Chat/view.html

Racketlon Video's:
http://video.aol.com/video-search/query/racketlon