The Owen Edwards Challenge Cup was held at VCC on 31st October and 1st November.
16 players competed including 3 Division 1 players from the Cairnlea Divisional Tournament being held the same weekend.
Owen Edwards had been a player held in high regard for many years within the Croquet community and was greatly responsible for introducing Golf Croquet to Victoria.
He represented Victoria in Golf Croquet events along with training and assisting referee education . Owen was also a renown player of Association Croquet.
Golf Croquet is currently the discipline with the highest number of players in Croquet Victoria.
This weekend saw some great croquet played and many interesting games. The event was livestreamed so is now available for viewing.
The eventual winner was Andy Barbero from Wangaratta in a very close best of 3 contest against Kevin Beard ( Brunswick) .
An outstanding performance by Ray Pilven ( Queenscliff) was evident with Ray coming 4th in the Owen Edwards and winning the Division 1 Cairnlea Divisional Tournament.
This was Ray's first time competing against many of the top players and he did exceeding well in the block round with 5 out of 7 wins and then coming 4th in the final.
It is wonderful to see up and coming players who compete successfully in such events and shows the depth of croquet players in Victoria.
The newer players to VCC - Kevin Norton (Shepparton), Alister McDougal (Boort) and Tony Brand (Sandringham) all played extremely well for the tournament highlighting that we have a strong field of Golf Croquet players able to play and be competitive at this high level within Victoria.
Group photo highlights many of the players involved in the Owen Edwards Challenge Cup
Winning presentations were to Ray Pilven and Andy Barbero seen holding the Owen Edwards Cup
Division 2 of the Cairnlea Divisional Singles was held on Saturday and won by Karen Connolly ( Monash) from Fiona McLaren ( Kew). All players in that division won at least one game. It was lovely to see the players enjoying the day .
Up and coming Golf Croquet events at VCC will be ;
Victorian GC Handicap Doubles -26th 27th November
Victorian GC Handicap Singles - 28th 29th November
Victorian GC Doubles
Victorian GC Singles - 23, 24, 25th January
Australia Day Tournament ( players will be placed in 6 divisions according to handicap)- 26th Jan 2027
All entries are welcome as per fliers on Vic Croquet website