Two years after their previous attempt, North Oxford EFC once again undertook the infamous three code challenge last Sunday, with 16 players taking part in mini tournaments of Rugby Fives at Rugby School, Eton Fives at Eton College and Winchester Fives at Winchester College all in one day.
Not everything ran quite as smoothly as it did in 2012: train problems meant a taxi ride from Northampton and a late arrival in Rugby for Rosie Scott, Ralph Morgan and Carl Rennie; the nominated greasy spoon breakfast venue in Rugby was closed for refurbishment so a late replacement had to be found on the hoof, leading to the incongruous sight of the serious sportsmen and women of North Oxford sitting in the lobby area of the Rugby School sports hall eating bacon, fried egg and black pudding breakfast rolls as part of their warm up routine. Further time was lost due to Ronald Pattison \"missing\" the M25 and arriving late at Eton and some rather bemused Winchester sports centre staff struggling to work out how to get us into their Fives courts before the arrival of a helpful security guard with a large bunch of keys provided the answer.
The main consequence of all this - much to Ian Mitchell's dismay - was less time than intended in the Wykeham Arms in Winchester before the group - with the welcome addition of Jeff Green, giving her a break from tending to the invalid uberveteran - repaired to the Gandhi restaurant for the NOEFC Christmas dinner. Early starts (5:30am for Charlotta) and late finishes (2am for Carl Rennie) were put to the back of everyone's mind as we celebrated in style.
The Fives? A special rule was introduced this year, known officially as the \"we-don't-mind-inviting-Seb-but-he's-not-allowed-to-win\" rule and this was adhered to rigorously. Gingerbread snowmen (to accompany another of Karen Hird's famous gingerbread Fives courts) were awarded to the winners at each venue; with the \"Cooley rule\" applied carefully this resulted in victory at Rugby for Mandie Barnes and Louise Pattison, at Eton for Ralph Morgan and Alex Yusaf and at Winchester for Ronald Pattison. The overall win for most points scored in the day was secured by Ralph Morgan, who won a large chocolate penguin and was visibly overcome with emotion as he celebrated winning his first ever major Eton Fives trophy.
My thanks to everyone who made such huge efforts to participate (gingerbread Fives courts, prize-providing, early starts, late finishes, panicky taxi rides, large amounts of driving and the rest...), to Trevor White at Rugby, Mike Hughes at Eton and Helen Muir-Davies at Winchester for their help in letting us use their courts, and here's to the 3 Code Challenge III in December 2016, by which time the Woodside cafe might have reopened and Ronald might have relocated the M25.