Isle of Wight Open Darts Festival
26th/27th/28th September 2008
Sponsored by;- Isle Of Wight Tours
Four of Sandown’s finest Hotels (The Trouville, The Carlton, The Royal Pier, and The Channel View) played host to the 470 plus darts player’s there families and invited guests for this years Isle Of Wight Open darts festival, and it must be said the weather gods were certainly on our side, providing us with one of the hottest weekends of the year.
On the Friday evening Money in/Money out, pairs competition it was the Devon pairing of Martin Davey and Lee Watts who were victorious in lifting the Men’s Tournament 3-1 over the Surrey pair of George McKie and Alan Yates, whilst Dawn Standley and Amanda Abbott of Norfolk took the ladies accolade 3-0 over the Berkshire pairing of Jo Sibley and Debbie Porter.
The premier Singles Tournament got us underway on the Saturday morning with 165 entering the Men’s and 105 entering the Ladies Tournament. After many hard fought matches the Men’s semi finals were between Mike Beale (Devon) taking on George McKie (Surrey) and Andy Mallett (Norfolk) verses Steve Penney (Dorset). Mike Beale who it must be said had played an extremely consistent high class of darts all day, saw off George McKie, winning his match 3-1. The other Semi Final match also saw Steve Penney hit the winning double, to put himself in this years final beating Andy Mallett by a 3-0 score line.
So the Final was set (Devon’s) Mike Beale was to take on (Dorset’s) Steve Penney, and it was the ever consistent Beale that started at the faster pace by taking the opening two legs of the final, this spurred Steve Penney into holding his nerve, and take the third leg, to get himself back into the final, but the relentless consistency of Beale was the dominant factor, and hitting a superb 134 shot in the 4th leg to leave himself 32, was shortly to prove very decisive and he was to shoot out the winning double on the very next throw, picking up the title and winner’s cheque for £1,500
The first Ladies semi final saw Trina Gulliver (Warwickshire) take on Amanda Abbott (Norfolk), with Trina proving to be to strong and breezing herself through to the final by a 3-0 score line. The second Semi final was to see Trisha Wright (Kent) verses Jackie Holman, with Trisha Wright also proving to be to strong a player and easily getting through to the final also by a 3-0 score. The Final between the two England International Players Trina Gulliver and Trisha Wright was a real battle and rightly going the 5 leg distance it deserved, it was (Kent’s) Trisha Wright that had the focus to hit the winning double and take the title and the winner’s cheque for £1,200
Congratulations must also go to the Sussex Pairing of Paul Russell and Dave Creasey who became the Men’s Pairs Champions, and yet again Trisha Wright making her second major final of the weekend, this time partnered by Hampshire’s Stephanie Smee, picked up the Ladies Pairs Title. The last honours of the weekend was the Mixed Pairs Title, this was to fall to the Devon Pairing of Merryl Jarman and Lee Watts.
Best performances from Island player’s were Darren Hawken who got to the last 8 of the Men’s Singles tournament and Island Chairperson Brenda Dyer who got to the last 16 of the Ladies Singles, well done to them both.
I feel, I must just mention the two Managers of the Trouville Hotel, Geoff Holt and Debbie Anderson who with a selection of cuddly toys won on the tom bola stall at last years I.O.W. Open, held a raffle and raised a superb £1,700 towards the David Hyde, Asthma and Allergy Research Centre, well done to them, and the sport of darts doing a good job to help others less fortunate than ourselves.
Lastly I would like to take this opportunity to thank Isle Of Wight Tours for their continued Sponsorship of this event, also all the staff in all the hotels for looking after our every need, and all the Officials for there tireless hard work in running the event, but most of all to you the dart player’s who continue to make this the most enjoyable and friendly of all the Open Competitions. Thanks to you all.
Kind Regards
Danny “the dart
Click HERE to view winners and results of the Darts event for 2008. |
