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Earlier this year, a number of Leeds players qualified to represent Yorkshire at the inter-regional championships held a couple of weeks ago in Suffolk. This is an annual competition organised by Pétanque England that sees teams from across the country take each other on to see who will be crowned champion.

Alan, Alan, Charles, Gavin, Mike, Neil, Richard, and Rosanna joined approximately 30 other players from the region and headed down to represent Yorkshire over two fun-filled days of pétanque.

Over 800 players took part this year, with teams representing the UK’s many pétanque regions including Kent, Sussex, and London, and we even had teams from Wales and Scotland. With some 100 terrains available for use, playing surfaces were varied and somewhat different to those at the Vesper Gate!

The main competition is split into two divisions, and this year Yorkshire were playing in Division II. After seven games each on day one Yorkshire were topping the league table, but all was still to play for the following day. However, the squad held firm and brought it home, with Yorkshire finishing top and winning a very impressive 56 out of the 96 games played over the weekend. The reward? Medals and a cup, and promotion to Division I next year!

Would you consider joining us next year? The inter-regionals are great fun to be a part of. Everyone’s there for the same reason and it’s a great opportunity to try some different terrains and meet other players from across the country.

With two Championship divisions and a further two Challenge competitions, plus a Juniors’ competition, there’s something for players of all levels to take part in. Have a chat with any of the players mentioned above for more information.

Leeds Pétanque have recently been in dialogue with the local Mölkky team to discuss meeting up formally for an introductory session for our members. This should be sorted soon and further information will be posted on the website. 

If you’re not familiar with Mölkky, the game hails from Finland and is probably best described as a cross between skittles and Pétanque, with a touch of darts scoring, with teams taking it in turns to throw a wooden pin towards numbered skittles to score points.

The local Mölkky team recently took part in the world championships in Japan and came 7th in the World Championships, beating former champions Estonia, and came a very creditable 7th whilst Finland were this year’s champions.

Paul in particular has become somewhat of an expert, and two weeks ago took part in the Yorkshire Open that was held at our Vesper Gate terrain. A combination of singles and doubles were played in leagues, then the knockout stages followed in the afternoon, and after a long day the doubles final was played in the near darkness aided by several phone torches! Paul and his friend Dave came in third in the doubles out of a total of 48 players! They now have bronze medals to show for it.

Not bad at all for players that have only been in the game for a few weeks… congratulations gentlemen!

Last week, Leeds beat Wetherby in the West Yorkshire Cup Final played in Harrogate. This knockout competition has an interesting format in that teams must comprise three men and three women, playing same sex triples followed by three mixed pairs games. It was a hard fought match but Leeds came through to win 4-1 having won both triples and two of our mixed pair games. This makes the third year in a row we have won the trophy. 

We would like to thank all Club members that have played in both the West Yorkshire League and Cup this year, and particularly to Alan who organised the team before his knee replacement op. 

Well done everyone and let’s hope we can keep up our record next year! 

You may have noticed our two club benches have recently been fitted with memorial plaques to remember two friends of the club, Roy Cotton (1956-2016) and Malcolm Brown (1946-2023).

Both Roy and Malcolm were long-standing club members and team players, and their generosity contributed significantly towards enabling us to move to our new home.

The annual York League has just come to an end – the final match was played last Thursday and our Leeds team have once again taken first place! From a total count of 13 matches comprising 65 games, Leeds came home with a very impressive 53 wins across the season!

This is now the fifth year in a row that Leeds have won the cup, so a huge well done to all those who took part during the season.

A huge thank you to those members who were able to turn out to support the club during Kirkstall Festival last week – a fun day was had by all and we hope we may see some new members in the near future. In particular, a special thanks to Alan, Chris B, Chris P, Pam, Paul, and Steve, all of whom not only helped during the day, but whose assistance was vital in erecting and dismantling the gazebo! Much appreciate team!