2017 British Blind Sport Tenpin Pairs Championship Final

Saturday 11th November saw the 2017 National final of this Primary Club sponsored competition take place in Sheffield.

Thirty two teams had entered the country wide competition and were finally whittled down to the twelve who would contest the final. It so happened that two qualifiers – Lucky Strikes and Meteors – were unable to make the journey to the final so two teams – Amigos A and Balls of Steel – were fortunate to be moved up to fill their places.

The finals day at Firth Park Bowl Sheffield was a long and arduous one for the teams: starting at 10am the teams played each other in a handicapped “round robin” format until around 5pm. The day concluded at the Copthorne Hotel in Sheffield where a first class dinner was enjoyed prior to the long awaited main event – the disclosure of the winners and the awards presentation. Teams travelling from as far away as Devon and Somerset hoped that this year would be their year – the handicap system employed for this competition, similar to the one used in golf, gives equal chances to all participants and makes second-guessing the winning team impossible.

Helping to present the awards on the evening were Primary Club’s John Spalton and David Bentley and they were delighted to hand over the trophies to the eventual winners – first time qualifiers “The Queens” from VIP Lounge. (Pictured)

The amount of organisation entailed to ensure the smooth running of a competition of this size is considerable, and Chair of British Blind Sport (BBS) Tenpin division Tony Clark was not only responsible for this – but also competed! Tony stressed that without funding from The Primary Club they would not be able to hold the competition and the teams would not be able to enjoy the weekend. He continued “The Tenpin community does not just treat the weekend as a competition, but as an irreplaceable opportunity to meet up with friends they haven’t seen for a long time, and probably wouldn’t be able to due to costs and distances involved. Many of the participants in Blind Tenpin depend upon this competition as it is their only opportunity for take part in any sporting activities, and some have additional impairments other than their sight.”