Back on the piste

Coonawarra petanque event returns after hiatus

After a seven year hiatus, a perfect weekend greeted players for the 21st Annual“Coonawarra Classic Clash Petanque Tournament held over the weekend of February 11 and 12.

The French game of petanque is a similar bowling game to the English lawn bowls or the Italian version called Bocce, and was introduced to Australia mainly by French expatriates.

It has now been recognised enthusiastically by people of all ages and origins, with the beauty in the simplicity of the rules and that it can be played almost anywhere for a bit of fun.

The tournament provided some fierce interstate rivalry between South Australian, Victorian and New South Wales teams over the two days of the competition, with the whole event being hailed a huge success by all who attended.

The Coonawarra Petanque Club (pictured bottom right) was excited to be running this event again, which had becoming recognised as one of the biggest and best tournaments in Australia.

“…our club has created a truly special event and the tournament has been tremendous for the whole region…” Gut Detot (Coonawarra Petanque Club president)

With the help of the Coonawarra Grape & Wine Association and other local sponsors, teams vied for over $6000 in cash and prizes and championship honours.

The weekend had 150 players entered, creating a great atmosphere and some spirited clashes over the two days. Coonawarra Petanque Club. president Guy Detot said that he was still amazed that people travel such a long distance to come to this competition, and added it was also good to see many new players coming to this event.

On Saturday, teams played six qualifying rounds to determine the best teams to go into the Top 16 for the Principale and Consulante competition. Several teams won all six games, putting them in an ideal spot for the rankings the next day. On Sunday, the games got a bit more serious, with the final rounds of the tournament showing an exceptionally high standard of play.

Eventually the final came down to two Victorian teams, Martial Leconte, Guy Mercier and Gavin Scott (pictured above top right with committee mebers Mal Redman (far left) & Dan Redman (far right)), from Melbourne, and Jane Scheggia, Deb Hicks and Doug Hicks, from Avoca.

In front of a crowd of more than 100 spectators, the Melbourne team took an early lead and the Avoca team then trying valiantly to catch up. Displaying some great petanque skills the Melbourne team went on to take out the championship honours 13 – 7.

Martial, captain of the winning team, was ecstatic with the win. “We have been coming to Coonawarra for many years, and to finally win this event is fantastic,” Martial said. “ It’s been a really well run tournament and truly enjoyable to play in.”

The local team of Andrew Jackman, Grant Hetherington and Nathan Reeves had a good weekend finishing in sixth place outright.

“Even after the seven year break, it was great to see the so many people come back to Coonawarra, and the whole weekend has been beautiful with some brilliant petanque being played,” Guy said. “Our club has created a truly special event and the tournament has been tremendous for the whole region.”