Hosting its first NE Region Tournaments the weekend of September 19 & 20, the New York Petanque Club, whose home terrain in Brooklyn's Prospect Park is perhaps the most difficult to play on East of the Mississippi River, had great cooperation from the weather and a wonderful turnout of some of the best players in the Northeast.Combining two regional tournaments, singles on one day, doubles on the next, as a way to build attendance and make the weekend worthwhile, over 21 players brought their best game for Saturday's singles and 19 teams squared off for Sunday's doubles.
Players from five FPUSA clubs were in the mix and by Saturday's end, after some fancy boules work not often seen this side of the Atlantic (lots of carreaux and carefully picked données) the victors emerged:
First Place: Xavier Thibaud(NYPC), 2nd Place Philippe Hemery (LBNY), and 3rd Place jointly- Gilles Ray(NYPC) and Robert Dunn (LBNY).
On Sunday, another day of glorious weather made for a great picnic with many spectators joining the fun. A few roaming family pets reminded one that the provision in Art 15 of the rules about animal interference in games is there for good reason.
By day's end, with street lights coming on, and the score in the final game between Jean Pierre Subrenat and Eric Bertin, and Xavier Thibaud and Gilles Ray, all of NYPC, at 12-3 for JP and Eric, there was a pause to move to a better lit court. Et voila! There was a "sea change", Xavier and Gilles found their game and in 3 ends came up the victors, 13-12!
A more detailed and very well written description of the tournaments by Thierry Juillard (NYPC), with a fun accompanying video, can be found on the NYPC site.
