County Scene

Badminton

CORNWALL COME UP TRUMPS IN BIG HOME WIN:

The Cornwall U11 team defeated Dorset 33-3 in their third fixture of the season at Truro School.

Before the match county colours were awarded to Amelia Burrell, Katie Phelps, Cara Collins, Charlotte Freer and Harry Dyer.

The hosts started in style, winning 10 singles matches to two, with Amy Walker, Ellie Reed and Amelia Burrell all convincing winners.

Joint skipper Luke Sillifant, playing at number one, won in two ends, while James Lush won his first match for the county at No 6.

Cornwall's number one pair, William Freer, England No8 in the U11 age group and Sillifant, stormed to three comfortable victories, with Sam Hammersley and Harry Dyer repeating the feat at No 2.

Joseph Tucker and Lush managed to take two out of three games at the number three.

The girls repeated their achievements against Avon winning all their doubles led by the number one partnership of Amy Walker and Amelia Burrell.

Ellie Reed and Charlotte Freer, playing at number two, held their nerve to win through a close three-ender against the Dorset first pair.

Cara Collins and Katie Phelps also won, despite Katie taking a heavy fall, twisting her ankle and bruising her wrists.

Cornwall won all six, with notable performances from Luke and Ellie, Sam and Amy and Harry and Amelia.

Cornwall U11s: Boys – Luke Sillifant (c), William Freer, Sam Hammersley, Joseph Tucker, Harry Dyer, James Lush. Girls': Amy Walker (c), Ellie Reed, Amelia Burrell, Katie Phelps, Cara Collins, Charlotte Freer. Team co-managers: Rob Freer and Claire Reed.

Cornwall's U17s travelled to Crewkerne where they recorded their first win of the season in the South West League, beating Somerset 22-14.

On arrival to their dismay Somerset had only fielded four girls out of a minimum requirement of six. The boys led the way under captain Kris Jasper, taking a comprehensive win at No1, while wins for Jack Dyer, Chris Cooper and Sam Payne, making his debut in singles, negated the girls losing their four singles.

Both Jake Brazewell at No 2 and Simon Cox at No 3 lost narrowly in three ends. Georgia Higgs had an exceptional performance at No 2, losing in three ends.

In the Boys' doubles two wins apiece for Kris and Jake, and Simon and Jack was a good start. However, Chris and Sam achieved three wins from three, winning a nail-biting three ender against the Somerset No1 pair to clinch the 19th rubber.

The girls performed well and the No3 pairing of Georgia and Alice Sporik went to three ends against their No 1 opponents. The 18th rubber was clinched by the girls' No 1 pairing and captain and vice captain Abi Logg and Hannah Robertson in three great ends, before the boys took the 19th.

With victory secured the Duchy moved into the mixed, Kris and Hannah at No1 having an inspiring victory against their opponents in three ends who had remained undefeated in the South West League for over two seasons. Simon and Rachael Collard were clinical at no2, winning in two ends.

Chris and Hester Luke worked hard to win in three ends at No 3.

Hester showed great determination, having had a long but successful day at the South West U17 Silver Tournament the day before. Jake and Georgia narrowly lost in three, and Sam and Alice took their No 5 opponents in three. Ruth Barnicoat from the U15 Team playing up an age group was impressive in her mixed working well with Jack, with a comfortable win in two ends.

Player of the match was awarded jointly to Chris Copper and Sam Payne each winning all five games.

Cornwall U17s: Boys – Kris Jasper (Launceston College, capt), Jake Brazewell (Newquay Tretherras), Simon Cox (Truro College). Jack Dyer (Truro College), Chris Cooper (Penryn College), Sam Payne (Callington College). Girls – Abi Logg (Truro College, capt), Hester Luke (Mounts Bay School), Rachael Collard (Callington College), Hannah Robertson (Callington College), Georgia Higgs (Helston School), Alice Sporik (Truro School), Ruth Barnicoat (Penryn College). Team managers: Sue Cooper/Jon Wotton.

The annual Newquay Cup Competition will be held at Newquay Sports Centre on Saturday, March 17. This year the competition is open to social as well as league players. Entries to Lorna Riggs (Mid-Cornwall Badminton League) by March 14. Tel: 01726 862 878.

Motor trial

KEELAN BEATS BROTHER:

A good entry of 58 riders competed over three laps of 10 double sub-sections for the 2012 Nanswyden trial, run by Camborne and Redruth Motorcycle Club at Nanswyden Farm near St Columb, writes Richard Parkyn.

The course plotters were able to take in some new ground to provide a challenging, but fair, trial.

Winner overall on the day was Keelan Hancock, who beat older brother Ross by a clear margin. Ross no doubt cursed the three fives he incurred on the first lap.

Usual C/exp winner Robin Martin had to be content with the runners-up spot, as young Matt Tabb found the going to his taste to take a good win.

Once again running the Green route to give the Mono N/exp a more challenging ride, the win went to Mike Jacobs, whose son was chasing the spoils on the Expert course and took a fine fourth place. Second to Mike was "Buzz" Bray from Chris Anstee.

On the White course the top three were in close battle leaving a big gap back to the fourth spot, the win on this occasion went to Phil Atkins from John Oliver and David Richards.

Graham Airey took a fine win on the Yellow course from Paul Wilton and Andy Vercoe, but all were upstaged by Simon Ferris riding his T/Shock Honda for a single dab ride.

Five newcomers rode the less demanding Red course, with Alex Diment taking the Youth award and Lewis Allen the adult from Jon Nile and Steve Diment.

Results: Blue course: Prem, K Hancock 11, R Hancock 20, I Martin 34. C/man Exp course: Prem, M Tabb 42, R Martin 48, A Coombes 65. Youth A, A Ferris 103. Youth B, O Lawer 49. White course: Prem, P Atkins 18, J Oliver 19, D Richards 20. Youth A, T Hendra 39, W Kemp 69. Green course: Prem, M Jacobs 4, B Bray 9, C Anstee 23. Youth B, M Luscombe 117. Yellow course: Prem, G Airey 2, P Wilton 7, A Vercoe 10. Pre65, R Trott 6. Trailbike, A Skelton 11, S Tabb 21. T/shock, S Ferris 1. Youth B, J Wilcox 31, M Diment 63. Red course: Youth, A Diment 79. Adult, L Allen 35, J Nile 42, S Diment 62.

Motocross

OPENING ROUND OF SERIES:

It was a cold, but thankfully dry, start for the first round of the Cornwall Motocross Club's series for 2012.

The 1.2k track near Truro was set out over several quite cambered fields which proved to be very slippery during practise and the first races.

The highly competitive and growing line up of sidecars was 10 strong with everyone charged up and ready to get the season underway.

Race 1 and last season's winner Seemond Stephens took the holeshot with his new passenger Mike Curnow.

They broke away from the pack early on and gained a clear lead to take the win. Brothers Tim and Richard Carter had a good start holding on to second place until the second to last lap when Tony Penhaligon and Simon Rogers managed to cut through and pass dropping them to third.

Scott Williams & Andrew Jones gave Stephens/Curnow something to think about for the first few laps of race 2 but the new duo kept their lead with Penhaligon/Rogers coming through to take runner up again.

Race 3 saw Williams/Jones take the holeshot and hold the lead for two laps while Penhaligon/Rogers also managed to sneak past Stephens/Curnow. But it didn't take long for the pair to break through again to take their third consecutive and therefore overall win.

The next round will take place on April 9. Results on page 104.

Short mat

CENTRAL TAKE CUP:

On Sunday, 128 bowlers from 28 clubs, including a number bowling at the county venue for the first time, competed at Fowey Community Leisure Centre in annual Inter Area Match which sees teams of 32 bowlers representing each of the county league areas for the Kernow Cup.

The first session saw Central take a clean sweep of wins against North whilst West claimed three out of four against East.

The second session saw North and West take two wins apiece from their head to head whilst Central extended their lead with three wins out of four against East.

With each rink of four players having played one game each Central lead with 14 points, West had 10 points and North ahead of East on shot difference, both on four points.

The second round of games, played out over two sessions saw North claim 10 points to East's six in their head to head and West claim the same score line against Central to leave the scores after everyone had played two games, West and Central 20 points, North 14 and East 10.

Session Five proved crucial to the outcome of the match with Central taking a 6-2 advantage over East and West dropped points to North 3-5.

In the final session Central secured the six points needed for overall victory against North whilst West came up just short, claiming seven out of eight points against the East.

To highlight the competitive nature of the day only four of the 32 rinks won all three games with another managing two wins and a draw to stay unbeaten.

Joe Coups (Illogan), David Balow, Don Falck (Marazion) & Nicholas Truscott (Holmans) playing for West six points +38 shots; Sandra Worton, Arthur Tubb, John Worton & Edward Wakeley (Ladock) playing for Central 6+31; Richard Brown, Barry Kessell, Gerald Fisher & Linda Martin (Illogan) playing for West 6 +26; Joe Dixon (Withiel), David Giles, Betty Temple Smith & Phil Hicks (Luxulyan) playing for Central 6 +6; Jean Welch (Marazion), Malcolm Nankervis, Fred Spurr (Centenary) & John James (Marazion) 5 +3.

Only three rinks failed to record a point during the days play.

Water sports

NEW EVENTS:

Two new events feature in Watergate Bay's action-packed 2012 events calendar.

Alongside the new kitesurf and powerboat racing events, English surfers will be celebrating an anniversary year as they compete in the 40th edition of the English National Surfing Championships from May 5 to 7.

Kitesurfers will be showing off their wave-riding skills with the addition of a new Wavejam competition to the British Kitesurfing Association's season-opening course racing championships on April 21 and 22.

Then spray will fly as a new surf powerboat race series comes to Cornwall for the first time, with the Extreme Academy hosting the opening rounds of the Thundercat Racing Series on May 19 and 20.

Cycling

ONE AND ALL GOES FROM STRENGTH TO STRENGTH:

Since it began just more than three years ago One and All Cycling, based at Bike Chain Bissoe Bike Hire, has gone from strength to strength and continues to grow both in terms of numbers as well as in the range of activities and opportunities available to its members.

From 2008, One and All members have participated in Sportive Events all over the country and abroad, raced in local, regional and national time trials, road races and circuit events competed in numerous triathlon and Ironman competitions and also raced on the BMX track and Mountain Bike circuit.

All this in addition to undertaking a wide range of charity cycling challenges.

At the heart of this activity has been the Sunday club rides starting from the club base at Bike Chain Bissoe Bike Hire and Café where members of all ages and abilities are welcomed to come and ride, make new friends, learn or improve their skills and enjoy riding a bike.

Sunday morning club activities include a variety of rides of different distances and speeds to ensure that cyclists of all abilities are catered for.

The principle that nobody is left behind is fundamental to the club's values, recognising that everyone has their own personal reasons for wanting to ride a bike and a little encouragement here and there can motivate them to achieve even greater things.

Key to the successful development of One and All Cycling has been the club's commitment to cycling at a 'grassroots' level, recognising that everybody has to start somewhere.

The club has always been very keen to encourage younger members to join and has access to a closed circuit which is available for use at weekends to run safe, off-road skills training sessions for youth riders as well as senior club members.

This facility comes courtesy of one of the club sponsors, 'Carnon Contracting'.

To run these coaching sessions One and All has supported several members to gain their coaching qualifications so that there is plenty of expertise available to members.

At present One and All have five Level 2 Coaches, one Level 3 Road and Time Trial Coach and a further five trainee Level 2 Coaches.

An important milestone in the growth and development of the club was reached on November 6th 2011 when the One and All Cycling Youth Academy was officially launched.

The Academy has been structured so that if follows a Gold, Silver, Bronze system in keeping with the upcoming Olympic Games.

All riders under the age of 18 years automatically qualify for the Bronze Tier where on completion of 10 closed circuit skills sessions they then qualify for discounts on club clothing and other rewards.

The Gold and Silver tiers cater for those riders with ambitions to take their cycling on to another level.

Riders who move on to the Gold and Silver level form what is referred to as the 'Development Squad'. Riders at this level participate in regular coaching sessions at weekends and during the week but also receive further support in terms of finance to help with race fees and travel expenses, discounts on kit and loan of equipment.

Most importantly they benefit from a more hands-on approach in terms of coaching support, annual planning, goal setting and identification of the performance progression pathways.

Football

HELP GIVE PROSTATE CANCER THE BOOT:

In March the Chestnut Appeal is launching its 'give prostate cancer the boot' campaign.

The charity is recruiting as many local football teams across the region to take part in the campaign which aims to raise awareness of prostate cancer to a new audience.

Local football clubs are being asked to put up a poster or two in their clubhouse or changing rooms, take some information leaflets and sell a couple of football scratch cards on behalf of the charity.

Contact David on chestnut.events@nhs.net or call 01752 792736.