Welcome to the 9th Blackthorn British Skittles Championship homepage!

James Rushton, Men's Champions - Highwaymen

Jenny Rendle, Ladies Champions – Everhopefuls

Chris Stolworthy, Mixed Champions – Lucky Devils

The Championships

At precisely 10.00 am on Saturday 22nd September, Torquay erupted to the thunder of balls being hurled and the deafening cheers from the 64 teams competing in the 9th Blackthorn British Championship Grand Finals. The race was on – with more than 850 skittlers playing their hearts out for the coveted titles, trophies and prize money.

Teams and supporters filled the Riviera International Conference Centre as the knock out matches began. As the balls thundered down the 16 skittle alleys, the tension rose as teams set their sights on being crowned the 2012 Blackthorn Champions.

The support and camaraderie on the alleys was a joy to behold, teams supporting and cheering each other on. There were some nail-biting battles too, with some matches coming down to just one pin, and therefore deciding the fate of the team's quest for the title.

Highest scoring man was Steve McEwan from the Highwaymen's team from Worcester hitting an impressive 74 in the finals. Highest scoring lady Nic Baker from Motley Crew mixed team from Weymouth notched up a fabulous 60.

Top team score of the day came from the men's champions, the Highwaymen, with an 'record-breaking' 420!

In the spirit of 'stand and deliver' the Highwaymen did just that by producing a similar score in the finals.

The atmosphere was electric when the finalists were lead into the arena to the sounds of rousing music, cheers and screams of support. The teams did not disappoint. The finals were truly tense affairs, with teams giving it their all, as they eyed the silverware and medals awaiting the winners.

History was rewritten this year when ladies team Everhopefuls from Cornwall did the triple, the first team ever to be crowned Champions three times. In a quirk of fate, two local teams battling it out in the Mixed Finals had a dad on one team, playing his wife, son and daughter on the other. Talk over the breakfast table the following morning must have been a lively affair!

The winners

The winning prize money of £1,650 for the Men's, £1,200 for the Ladies and £1,200 for the Mixed were awarded as follows:

• Men's Champions:
  Highwaymen from Worcester
• Ladies Champions:
  Everhopefuls from Pensilva, Cornwall
• Mixed Champions:
  Lucky Devils from Totnes, Devon

Runners up

Runners up in each event with the Men's receiving '£800', Ladies '£600' and Mixed '£600' with Blackthorn goodies were as follows:

• Men's Runners up:
  Mixers from Paignton, Devon
• Ladies Runners up:
  Dolly Mixers from Totnes, Devon
• Mixed Runners up:
  Misalots from Paignton, Devon

Plate winners / runners up

The last 32 Men's teams and the last 16 Ladies and Mixed teams lined up according to the previous evening's live draw and got the ball rolling shortly after 10am. For teams that fell at the first hurdle, a plate event was held and the results were as follows:

• Men's plate winners:
  Allstars from Exeter
• Men's plate runners up:
  Shellach Mctire from Paignton

• Ladies plate winners:
  Oakettes from Dewlish, Dorset
• Ladies plate runners up:
  Coleford Bowlovers from Coleford, Gloucestershire

• Mixed plate winners:
  Gladrags from Gloucester
• Mixed plate runners up:
  Wildcatz from Coventry

The entertainment didn't stop with the skittles. The celebrations continued with the amazing voice of Damien Matthews entertaining the teams on Friday night and the fantastic sounds of local band Chameleon got everyone up rocking. All topped off with disco and party time with UK Karaoke until the wee small hours!!