New Champions crowned at the fifth Scottish Conker Championships
Published 23 Oct 2011 09:30
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A FINE autumn day drew a crowd of 84 competitors and many more spectators to this year's Scottish Conker Championship, which took place in Peebles on Saturday, October 22.
The championship, organised by Borders Forest Trust as part of the Tweed Valley Forest Festival, drew would-be champions from the Borders, Dumfries & Galloway, the Lothians and as far away as Devon.
The year's Junior Champion is nine year-old Jordan McMinn of Peebles, who displayed incredible focus to beat runner up, seven year-old Hunter McCrone. McMinn's conker had taken a battering through the rounds and was barely still attached to its string, but he remained cool, calm and collected and as a result walked away with the title.
The Youth category was won by fifteen year-old regular competitor Charlie Griggs, another Peebles resident whose mother Fiona is a former winner in the adult category. Runner up in the Youth category was twelve year-old Matthew Lindsay.
The Adult competition was hotly-contested, but no-one could stand up to last year's Adult runner up Maurice Hurrell of Tullibody, who displaced several opponents by obliterating their conker on his very first smash. The Adults runner-up was Phil Gates of Peebles.
The Rogues competition ended the day, with an "anything goes" rule meaning that the conkers had been subjected to all sorts of treatments to improve their staying power. In the final it was brother against brother as Peebles boys Andrew Wilson (age eight) and William Wilson (age 15) faced each other using conkers which were reputedly coated with yacht varnish.
The indestructible conkers meant that the victory had to be decided by sudden death. William Wilson was the first to miss a shot, leaving his brother Andrew as this year's Rogue champion.
"We were delighted to get such a good turnout for the championships," said Louisa Finch of Borders Forest Trust, "and it's great to see there is so much enthusiasm for keeping traditional games like conkers going."
All winners received a beautiful handmade elm burr conker made by local wood turner Bruce Frost from Wood Works in Peebles.
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