Hey all, Az here again reporting on yet another excellent Geraldton Challenge. With our team selected in an exciting qualifier held in early January that was won by Jack Collins and had Gordon Payne as runner up, we travelled the six hours by car north, with our team mates some of whom stopped along the way sightseeing (see pics) arriving late afternoon / early evening but all arrived safely.

Most of us headed to the venue for the traditional meet and greet knockout comp on the Friday night after we had checked into our rooms and many of our players put on a good show with Jarrad Page making it to the final & walking away with the Runner’s Up Purse (Job Pagey!) losing in a close match to Geraldton’s Brad Stieler.

With that out of the way we retired to our hotel for drinks and sleep (some more than others & some more than necessary lol) The next day saw a team breakfast / meeting / matchplay strategy talk followed by a quick cleanup before we headed down to the venue for the main event of the weekend soon to be known as the Chuppa Chup Cup. At the venue we had time for a few warm up games before matchplay started and when it did the Geraldton team was still every bit as strong as I had come to expect and I remember thinking to myself that last year I noted that the matches would all be much easier with out a major hangover but it seems I’d forgotten that the night before (Again!).

Matches got under way and every game seemed very close (a good sign) and at the end of the first round someone pointed out there was only one frame in it, our team this year was strong it seemed we were in with a serious shot at the cup.

After a long day of intense pool that saw some 300 frames played in total the final scores stood as follows Geraldton 177 wins verses Miss Q’s very respectable 123 wins leaving a 54 frame deficit by far the most outstanding result for Miss Q’s in the challenges history, we’re getting closer to having our name on the cup every time we face each other.

The player of the match for Miss Q’s was Evan Briggs on 11 wins from 15 and the overall player of the challenge was Adrian Lancaster on 14 from 15 both players showing impressive skills on the day. Well done to all who participated in everything that was required to make this challenge the awesome event it is, a huge thank you to Adrian & Adele and the rest of the Gerro team for the fantastic competition, sportsmanship & hospitality provided by yourselves and the Italian Club, Well done and congratulations to the Miss Q’s Team for your fantastic conduct both on and off the tables throughout the weekend & finally a special mention of best wishes and support for U18’s NATIONAL CHAMPION!! Luke Foster, take some scalps at the worlds mate.

Az.

The Geraldton Trip with Gordon and Andrew – It was a fair drive all the way from Mandurah to Geraldton but well worth it, we enjoyed playing against some of the best and challenging players within WA, while learning a lot along the way. We also enjoyed to social aspect of the event, the Geraldton players made us feel more than welcome and you cant go past the cheap drink and awesome ham and cheese toasties the venue offered. The accommodation was great for the little amount we paid, even tho we had to put up with some people snoring… not mentioning any names Gordon. All in all a great time and experience would love to do it again next year.

The Geraldton Trip with Emz, Nomes & Morris – This weekend wasn’t all about pool we decided to make into a little adventure. Morris, Ma, Nomes and myself joined with John, Luke, Shalako and Damo decided to do a convoy road trip up to Gero. We stopped in at Lancelin, took a walk/drive through the Pinnacles, had lunch at Jurien Bay and then headed onto Geralton. A big thankyou goes to whoever invented “I Spy” because that did keep us entertained for over an hour and a half, as well as punch buggy, slap truck, pinch jeep etc etc. However to whom ever invented the caravan, boats or mobile homes I’m not so happy 🙂

After settling in to our unit we went for a dip in the pool, had dinner and then decided that some drinks, Poker, Yatzee and Pictionary man was in order before bed.

The next day was huge, 8hrs of intense but fun competition between Miss Q’s and Gero followed by another 3-4hrs of more challenges with the knockout comp. Unfortunately we all got nailed but we had a ball in the process.

Heading home was a little less road trippy but Nomes managed to find Jesus (he was in Gero the whole time) we also found a giant crayfish and the necessary photos were taken and to top it all off we had an ‘in car, road trip picnic’.

A big Thanks goes to Geralton for having us and beating our donkeys and big Thanks goes to Kez and Az for organising everything and everyone. Without you guys this awesome weekend couldn’t have been … well awesome 🙂 Emz, Nomes and Morris.

The Geraldton Trip with Pagey, Jack, Matt& Jabba – A  group of 20 went to Geraldton for a pool challenge (Which is now now called the Chuppa Chup Challenge). Matt, Jack, Jabba, and myself went up together and for Matt and Jack it was their first time, and they were excited about that.

We arrived to settle in at the Broadwater Hotel a really nice place by the way, Then I was off straight to the pool for a swim with Jabba and the crew. Jack, Matt And I decided to go to the knock out comp that night in which Jack and Matt drew each other first round, Jack won, Jack made the quarter finals in which losing to a tough opponent in Adrian and I came runner up again!

The next day Jabba and I were up early to start cooking breakfast, and after that another swim, the pool was gooood! Match play saw some interesting results, Jack Played real well although saying he need to finish off better he scored 9 out of 15, Matt was very impressive for a first time player and he being a lefty! Jabba was unlucky during the day but toughed it out with 6 out of 15. Myself I was potted out on three times and defulted twice but managed to get 8 out of 15, overall we played well and did ourselves proud, Thank you Kez and Az for the weekend there were fun times for all – Cheers Pagey

The Geraldton Trip with Andrea, Andy & Evan – This was my first trip away to Gero but my second challenge against a great group of people. After many weeks of planning, the weekend finally arrived and we all headed off. After a long hot drive it was nice to relax at the fantastic Broadwater Resort. The weekend began with a dust storm, rain and wind but that didn’t stop us having a great weekend of pool. The Gero team made us all feel welcome and we all had a great time. Thanks Kez and Az for all the hard work to make our trip memorable. Cheers, Andrea/Ma

A long journey but well worth it. Awesome people, awesome sportsmanship. Great accommodation, really spacious, everyone had their own king size shelf to live on ( Pagey and Crocker included! ) Top weekend, thanx to everybody, Andy Swann

Geraldton Challenge (Evan Briggs) We traveled to Geraldton on Friday afternoon. A very hot day for a long car ride but I was just happy I didn’t have to drive. I played quite under par in the Friday night knock out and was well beaten by young Ben Foster.

The next day started with an awesome barbeque breakfast, just the thing to get the mind and body going. We played throughout the day for a total of 300 frames, with a high standard of play being maintained. At the end of the day Geraldton were convincing winners, of the newly named: “Chupa Chup Challenge”. Adrian Lancaster was top of the Geraldton crew with 14/15 and I managed to win 11/15 to top Miss Q’s players.

That night I got to know some of the Miss Q’s people a bit better, by enjoying some “Chuck Norris” jokes, most too far in the gutter to be revealed here. Overall, I enjoyed my time away in Geraldton and look forward to playing them again mid-year in Mandurah