NorCal Inter-Regional Tournament

Sunday July 23rd 2017 will remain a glorious day in the annals of local pétanque. On that day, the 6 major pétanque clubs of Northern California met in San Rafael to compete for their annual inter-club tournament.

Petaluma, Fresno, Sacramento, Sonoma, Lamorinda and San Rafael sent players to defend their respective colors and vie for the coveted cup. Ultimately, the total number of competitors came to 68.

This pétanque tournament, let’s not forget, was organized by the Petaluma Valley Pétanque Club and under the aegis of Ed Porto and Rob Everett they did an excellent job. They even managed to get the show on the road no later than 9:30 am.

Three 50 minutes games were played in the morning to determine everybody’s individual ranking and who would play in the Concours and who play in the Consolante. According to each individual score, eight triplettes teams were then selected to play in the Concours and 8 teams in the Consolante.

A slight digression here if I may…
One the problem afflicting this reporter was to identify all players and even though I am familiar with many of them I could not recognize them all. So please excuse me in advance for misspelling your (sometimes unfamiliar) names.

The second major problem for my alter ego was the weather. It was sunny and bright but there was a catch. In San Rafael we enjoy a fabulous shaded playing area but it is a blessing and a problem at the same time. It is very difficult for a photographer using a zoom lens to take decent pictures in “clair-obscur” conditions. So I apologize in advance for the quality of certain shots.

In the tournament’s Concours finals, Sacramento faced Petaluma. Two good teams. A balanced game. Each side could have won, ultimately though thanks in good part to Brendan Cohen, Sacramento won by a final score of 13/9. The losing team has absolutely nothing to be ashamed of.

Mone Lee, Brendan Cohen, Kue Lee

In the Consolante, despite our warriors’ best efforts, the Fresno juggernaut demolished La Pétanque Marinière 13/2.

A great day for pétanque lovers!

Concours:
1st place: Brendan Cohen, Mone Lee, Kue Lee (Sacramento)
2nd place: Bleys Rose, Albert Woodbury, Dennis Zerbo (Petaluma)

Consolante:
1st place: Jer Thao, Bruce Yang, Janice Bissonnette (Fresno)
2nd place: Henry Wessel, Mark Shirkey, Charlie Davantes. (Marin)

Alain

PS: Our good friend Gustave Foucher who just celebrated his 90th birthday was recently hospitalized. He will be released soon. Please wish him well. He will appreciate it.

To look at photos of this event, click on the “My Photos” link located on the right side of this page. For best viewing, go Full Screen. Feel free to send me comments.

 

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