Twenty-nine gateballers from around NSW and Victoria attended the 2015 Riverina Gateball Championship at the Wagga Wagga Croquet Club.

Persistent but gentle rain welcomed players for the teams event on Saturday. Blue Mountains and Canberra were the clear standouts in the block both going through to the final with only one loss. Canberra controlled the final and finished strongly with some peg outs to win 17-9. The Canberra team included new gateballers Judy Tier and Adrienne Fazekas who both played very well in their competition debuts.

Wagga defeated Victoria 13-9 in the play-off for third place.

Canberra – Team Winners

Blue Mountains – Team Runners Up 

On Saturday players enjoyed an evening of dinner, drinks, table tennis and trivia at the Charles Sturt University – thanks to the wonderful hospitality of the Wiltshire family. The success of the weekend tournament was largely due to expert organisation by Josh, Jenny and David.

Gateballers enjoyed better playing conditions on the Sunday for the triples competition. Teams were randomly drawn which made for interesting combinations of players.

The partial block was very competitive with all teams winning and losing matches. The top three teams were tied on three wins and one loss with just a two net point difference between 1st and 3rd place. Philip Brown (Kew), Kristina Whitehead (Canberra) and Bev McCoy (Young) finished on top with the best for and against.

Triples Winners – Bev McCoy (Young), Kristina Whitehead (Canberra) and  Philip Brown (Kew).

Triples Runners Up – Mary Dunn (Blue Mountains), Elaine Coverdale (Essendon), Kerry Seipolt (Kew) 

Teams left Wagga looking forward to upcoming competitions in Melbourne and Jamberoo in May.

Results are available on croquetscores.