WIM Club Champs 2015

Happy New Year!

The 2015 Wimborne Club League season concluded with the SOC event at Kings Garn Gutter on 6 December. Final placings are on the club website.

Congratulations to our four champions - Richard Brightman, Sue Hands, Sarah Horsler and Darren Whittingham - and to all 91 WIM members who appear in our league tables - an increase of 12 on 2014.

Martin Cross was the Senior Men's early leader with Richard Brightman, Steven Horsler, Kevin Pickering, John Shucksmith and Chris Turner in the chasing pack. In April, Richard took the lead and held on to it for the rest of the year despite a serious late challenge from Chris Branford. Going into the last event it was still mathematically possible for Chris to overtake Richard, but only if he won Green and Richard scored less than 83 points. It was highly unlikely! The final order was Richard first followed by Chris Branford second, Roger Hills third and Martin fourth.

The Women's competition was dominated by Sue Hands, Wendy Bullen and Tamsin Horsler throughout almost the whole year. By May, however, Sue had already scored a maximum 600 points from 6 wins on Short Green and the battle had effectively been won. The final order was Sue first, Wendy second, Tamsin third and Gillian Cross fourth, just ahead of Karen French.

Darren Whittingham (M12) was once again the Junior Boys winner, running Orange courses with skill and determination. However, this year saw a new challenger in Harry Bratcher-Howard (M10) on Yellow, who finished second 27 points behind Darren. With Fraser Smith, Robert Munday and Monty Bratcher-Howard also competing, 2016 could be very interesting.

The Junior Girls competition turned into another battle royal between Sarah and Elizabeth Horsler, and concluded with another close finish. Sarah ultimately gained first place with 594 points and Elizabeth came second with 590 - two impressively high scores! Becky Whittingham was third and Grace French fourth.

The 2016 Club League season has arrived, starting with the SOC SCOA League event at Busketts Lawn on Sunday 17 January. Club League rules are very similar to 2015 and the initial list of qualifying League events is published on the Waffle site. I'll be happy to answer any queries.

We look forward to seeing you. Good luck, everyone!

Mike Kite, Club League Organiser