16 teams gathered on a chilly but fine March Sunday at Hartley Country Club all excited to get the 2026 Kent qualifying series underway. The format of the day was a 3 round Swiss in the morning, with the top 8 teams going into the Gold knockout and the remaining 8 teams in the Silver. There were also consolages in the afternoon for first round losers, so all teams got at least 5 matches.
The morning Swiss produced some interesting results and surprises, leaving everything all to play for after lunch. In the Gold, Dave Hurren, Richard Spillett, Matt Horrigan & Rowland Jones were too strong for the field, going the whole day unbeaten, winning 6 out of 6 matches to win the Gold and take 1st place. The final was a convincing 13-4 win over Abi Coles, Marc Franco-Llado, Alex Spillett & Kai Sheffield. The Silver competition saw Keith Atkinson, Ivan Russell, Barry Menzies & Richard Wenban bounce back from morning disappointment to take the Silver title and 9th place, with a victory over Max Boyce, Sam Boyce & Duncan Brown.
Full results and ranking points are below, along with a photo gallery. Many thanks to Hartley for hosting the event and looking after us all very well! We look forward to being there again for qualifier 2 in May.
