Sunday 6th July saw Gravesend host the fourth and final qualifier in the 2025 Kent qualifying series. Teams were battling it out for the right to represent Kent at the Inter Regional Championships & Challenge, this year being held at the new venue of Pontins Sand Bay, Weston-super-Mare. There are four qualifier events, and each team’s best three results count in the final standings.
It was a hotly contested event, with some interesting results throughout the day. Congratulations go to the trio of Richard Ruddick, Dean Ashby & Kai Sheffield who won the day, beating Tim Edwins, Jonathan Castaing & David Plumhoff 13-7 in the gold final, cementing their overall finish as 1st place in the series.
The silver competition was won by Becky Edwins, Scott Ashby & Jason White, with a convincing 13-1 victory over Peter Clarke, Martin Pennell, Mark Toulson & Carolyn Edwins in that final. Somewhat of a surprise to see a team of that quality in the silver, but shows the strength of the Kent qualifying series this year.
After the full 4 days of qualifying we ended with a three way tie between teams in 7th, 8th and 9th place. With the team in 9th place missing out on the top 8 Championship squad, a playoff was needed! The three teams played matches against each other, up to 7 points. However, after the first 2 games, one team had lost both, meaning they would be in the Challenge squad, with the other 2 teams on 1 win each making the Championship squad.
As always, the final playing order is decided by the Kent Playing & Management Committees. Full Q4 results and the final standings are below. Many thanks to Keith Atkinson and GRFC for setting up and hosting the event, and congratulations to all those who have made the top 12 and will play for Kent this September!
