The Championships

On Saturday 20th September 64 teams arrived at the Riviera Conference Center, Torquay all determined to be crowned the first Butcombe British Skittles Champions. Over 850 skittlers and supporters from all over the country watched as the first balls were thrown by Paul and Ollie from Butcombe to signal the start of this epic event.

The sounds of cheering, team songs, chants and crashing pins was electrifying and deafening as teams carved out their path to the finals on the 16 skittle alleys. The RICC was awash with a rainbow of colour from all the team shirts and some more than colourful nicknames too!

Highest scoring man was Mark Northway from the Lucky Devils with a cracking 72 from the Lucky Devils. Bev Miller from the Jolly Girls notched up a fabulous 64 to be the highest scoring lady.

Top team score of the day was a joint affair from the Skimmers notching up an impressive 418 in the first round against Spitfires, also the new Champs Wiltshire Wonders also hit 418 in the semi-finals against the Nibs which secured their place in the finals.

The finalists were lead out into the arena to amazing cheers and screams of support which only intensified as the nail-biting ends were reached.

In the Men's event the Wiltshire Wonders, who were no strangers to the pressure of the finals as were runners ups in 2011, were chasing the Heavitree Heros and after the first 2 legs were 11 pins down. With a cracking third leg the tables started to turn and by the forth the Wonders had a 10 pin lead which they held onto as they lifted the silverware, the very first time Wiltshire has ever won the Championships.

The Everhopefuls from Cornwall hit the Championship record as the first team ever to win four championships, they won in 2005, 2010 & 2012, now they have 2014 and the first as Butcombe Champions to add to their collection of titles. Leading all the way and winning every leg the Cornish girls really gave the finals their all. This saw the Dolly Mixers as the bridesmaids again as runners up for the third year in a row.

Mixed team Winners, Two Tribes from Exeter really did as their shirts stated and went to war in the finals. It was only their second year of entering the Championships and the first time the team had qualified to the finals so what a fantastic outcome for such a new team to this event. It wasn't all plane sailing as going into the third leg Two Tribes were down by 9 pins but with a record leg of 86 including 3 spares it saw them overtake their opponents who couldn't recover in time. This saw mixed runners up A Mix of Posh Tits from Berkeley, Glos still enjoy their first time on the podium.

The entertainment didn't stop when the skittles did as the celebrations continued onto the dancefloor Saturday night with the great sounds of local band Raspberry Fish and Friday night saw the return of Shoot Out favourite Damien Matthews. Both nights saw UK Karaoke providing a great disco until the very early hours!