This men's and women's doubles triangular team competition which was created following the Seaman's strike in 1966 when only Todmorden Tennis Club were able to reach the island for a competition. Albany, Castletown and Ramsey provided the visitors with some strong competition and following several visits to the island the Todmorden club responded by donating a shield for annual competition. Last Sunday the 45th triangular match between the three clubs was finally played (having been postponed from September). After over 3hrs of stiff competition Albany came out on top wresting the shield from Castletown who had won it the previous year. Top performance from Albany came from Sean Drewry/Jamie Teare who won all their 4 sets. The Castletown sisters, Elena and Hannah Snidal also won all their 4 sets. Otherwise wins/losses were fairly distributed across the clubs. At the conclusion of play with scores; Albany 86 games, Castletown 66 games and Ramsey 29 games, tournament Referee, Bryan Sharp, presented the shield to Albany captain, Ian Watson. Thanks to the Albany members who provided afternoon tea for the players and it was nice to welcome players from the other clubs.
At last the mixed league matches have been completed and our 3 teams are all champions Albany C won division 4, the B team won division 2 and the A team won division 1. Well done to the team captains; Alison King, Kirsten Hall and Karen Kelly for managing to field teams though it took 26 players to complete the fixtures. There does seem to be reluctance with so many members to play competitive tennis. I wonder does this happen in other sports? The club's league players have done us proud and we have 7 trophies to "pick up" at the IOMLTA League presentations/supper which this year is being held at Albany on Saturday 11 November starting at 7.30pm Please will as many as possible turn up and support this event. There will be a raffle to raise funds for the Island Games team to compete in Gibraltar in 2019. If you are able to donate a raffle prize please contact Daphne Snidal (834815/450967)or leave it in the club office and I'll see that it is given to her.
Charlotte Clarke (12) finished off her week in the UK playing an U16 event in Widnes. This was a really tough task but she needs to play at a higher age group to raise her ranking and be accepted in higher grade events. Whilst she lost in the 1st round of the main draw but finished r/up in the consolation event. No mean feat for a 12 year old. She would like to thank Equiom (Isle of Man) Ltd for sponsoring her travel expenses for this trip.