Foreword

The twenty-third infamous 'Ipswich Handicap', masquerading as the Graves Cup, was held over a mild, sunny weekend at the beginning of January. For once the weather was kind and enabled a large following of spectators to enjoy a good weekend of Fives in relative comfort.

Excellent pre-tournament organisation by the Bursar, Peter Boughton ably assisted by John Caudle, ensured a good turnout of thirty-two players from the Old Boys, the School and guests. Sixteen pairs, a convenient number for the draw for those of us with a limited mathematical ability, allowed for four groups of four pairs. Each were to play the best of three games against the other pairs in the group with the best two progressing to the quarter-finals.

Group Matches

Seb Cooley and Peter Hilton comfortably won Group 1 3-0 with John Caudle and Alex Bowditch scraping into second place based on games won despite losing a close encounter with Mike Fenn and Josh Robinson 12-8, 10-12, 9-12. In Group 2 Gareth Hoskins and Gus Condie beat the second placed pair Simon Woolfries and Alex Dunlavey 10-12, 12-2, 12-6 with the latter pairing also taken to three games by Steve Burnell and James Nicholson. Group 3 was dominated by Jamie Cameron and Reuben Arasaratnam with Tim Rakow and Tim Fletcher second. In Group 4 Karl Rudman and Eddie Day stuggled to win all three matches, two going to three games. Andrew Cameron and David Cox were the runners up.

Quarter-finals

Two close quarter-finals saw Cooley and Hilton win 12-4, 13-14, 12-8 against A Cameron and Cox and J Cameron and Arasaratnam win against Woolfries and and Dunlavey 8-12, 12-8, 12-14. In the other two quarter-finals Rakow and Fletcher comfortably saw off a tiring Rudman and Day and Hoskins and Condie proved too strong for Caudle and Bowditch.

Semi-finals

The 'Handicap' pairing system continued to work well with the pattern of close encounters in the earlier stages continuing into the semi-finals, where the Cooley and Hilton pairing overcame Hoskins and Condie 12-7, 8-12, 12-9 and Rakow and Fletcher reversed their group result, where they lost 7-12, 8-12, to take their revenge and defeat J Cameron and Arasaratnam 14-12, 12-10.

Final

In the best of five game final the superior all court play of Seb Cooley, ably supported by Peter Hilton, was too good for their opponents and although Tim Rakow (winner in 1992) and Tim Fletcher managed to take a close third game they went down to the better pair 4-12, 7-12, 12-11, 7-12. A great result for Peter Hilton who had only taken up Fives a few months prior to the Tournament. His game continually improved throughout the weekend under the careful tutelage and encouragement given by his partner Seb Cooley.

The Plates

Plate A was won by Bob Freeman and Angus Kirk and Plate B by Peter Boughton and Alex Bowditch.

Dinner

Thirty-two sat down to a most memorable dinner held in the Cricket Pavilion on the Saturday evening. Old Ipswichian Club Committee members in attendance were Terry Cracknell Chairman, Simon Woolfries Vice President, Mike Fenn Secretary and John Caudle. Guest of Honour was Anne Shortland-Jones. Sadly John Le Mare, our Fives President, and his wife Rosemary were unable to attend due to illness. Another absentee this year and sorely missed for his conviviality was Edwardian Courtney Friend.

Tributes

The School is to be thanked for allowing the use of their facilities; the caterers for a most enjoyable dinner; the organisers Peter Boughton and John Caudle, without whose effort the weekend would not have been such an outstanding success; and to the participants, the combination of which made the event the success it was. We look forward to next year.

Results

M.R.F.

Graves Cup Report 2001-2002 by Mike Fenn
Finalised 3rd July 2002
efa@etonfives.co.uk

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