Today, Friday 12th September, sees 13 Kent teams travel across the country to Weston-super-Mare to compete in the PE Inter Regional Championship & Challenge events over the weekend of 13th & 14th September. The top 8 teams after the Kent regional qualifying series form the Championship squad, while teams finishing 9th-12th make up the Challenge squad. There is also a Kent Junior squad and 2 Kent teams forming part of a joint Combined squad. In total around 60 Kent members will be present and involved.
The Inter Regional weekend is the pinnacle of the PE calendar, which sees every region in England invited to enter squads and compete against one another. Wales & Scotland squads will also be in attendance. In the Championship Division 1, Kent have a rich history however haven’t won the title for 10 years. It is a similar story in the Challenge Division 1, with Kent not having lifted the trophy since 2013. The Kent Junior squad will be looking to win back the title they won in 2023 but relinquished last year. The Inter Regional Championships started in Poole in 1983 and has gone from strength to strength ever since.
With each team playing 12 matches over the weekend, it is a gruelling test of endurance as well as ability. The weather looks like it could also play a part this year, with strong winds and some heavy rain forecast. The full Kent Squads are below. As is usual practice the Kent committee insist on teams of 4 to cover extreme cases of emergency or injury so some Kent members have been named in teams to fill the gaps.
The Kent Management Committee wish all players, teams, managers and squads the best of luck and a successful weekend! The best place to get updates over the weekend will be the Petanque365 Facebook Group, with some live streaming of matches expected this Sunday.
