Mark Yates reports:
A beautiful sunny morning greeted the participants for the Spring Festival of Fives held on Sunday at Shrewsbury School. Sadly R/rydal Penrhos and Wrekin College were unable to join us this time round, but there was still plenty of Fives for those that made it. Three competitions took place, with each pair playing one another in two sets, to provide some valuable competitive Fives in the run up to N/national Schools' Championships at the end of the month.
Girls Competition - Shrewsbury's first pair proved to have grasped the game of Fives quickly following their recent introduction to the sport and won the competition comfortably. Wolverhampton 1, Eve Cowan and Emma Morley, continued their good run of form from winning the Festival Plate last week at the Ladies N/nationals, to finish in second place. Shrewsbury 2 finished in third place. Wolverhampton 2 gained valuable experience and have many more year's of competition ahead as they are only in Year 7.
Intermediate Boys - a much tighter competition, eventually won by Wolverhampton 1, Silas Lawrence and Tom Aston. Silas and Tom overcame King Edward's 1 in the decider, having been pushed close in the previous match by the Shrewsbury first pair. King Edward's 1 finished in second place having squeezed past Shrewsbury 1 in their opening game. Shrewsbury 1 finished third with great credit having taken a game off the Wolverhampton first pair.
Junior Boys - this competition was dominated by King Edwards School, Birmingham. A youthful group of year 8 and 9 boys had a good run of close games, with King Edward's 1 eventually sealing victory having been pushed by their second pair.
A big thank you to Andy Barnard and Seb Cooley for hosting the festival at Shrewsbury School.