The 2024 ECBA Champion of Champions was held at Stanley, County Durham over 1st-2nd June.

RINKS
Colin, Keith and Sheila Fellingham and Sue Davey
After dropping one shot on the first end to Norfolk, Suffolk worked their way away from their opposition, finally taking a relatively comfortable 9-3 win.

Having worked their way to a 5-3 lead against Essex, after 7 ends, Suffolk then dropped 4 on the penultimate end, to trail 5-7, only to then get those 4 back on the final end, for a last gasp win.

Taking on also undefeated Cambridgeshire, Suffolk went from 3-7 down to 9-7 up, but then dropped 3 on the last to narrowly lose 9-10.

Sadly Suffolk ended the day with their worst result, against Sunderland, who edged ahead early on, and never gave Suffolk a chance to get back in the game. They lost 3-10, ending the day tied for 3rd, but 4 points behind joint leaders, Cambridgeshire and Sunderland. However, with those two teams already out of the way, there was still a chance for a good finish.

Sunday started out with Hertfordshire as their opponents. Suffolk were never behind at any point, they only dropped one end, and ran out to a very convincing 15-1 win.

Northumberland were next up, and Suffolk had their noses in front, only to drop a 4 to go 7-6 down, but they rallied to get back in front, winning 11-7, which put them third.

The final game of the weekend saw Suffolk up against Durham, and it was all going very well at the halfway point, with Suffolk 5-2 up, but theylost 6 shots over the next 3 ends, and ended up losing 6-8. However the two wins earlier in the day was enough for them to finish third overall, on 8 points, 8 shots ahead of Durham.

Cambridgeshire took the title with 12 points, 4 shots better than Sunderland.

Weekend Record - W-W-L-L-W-W-L

TRIPLES
Trevor Bean, Paul Leach & Neil Jolly (Neil was standing in as a last minute replacement owing to illness)
Suffolk worked their way out to a 5-1 lead at the halfway point, against Norfolk, but the opposition chipped into that lead to make it 5-4 with an end to go, but Suffolk managed to hold onto one on the last end to win 6-4.

Not exactly the best of starts against Essex, as Suffolk found themselves 0-10 after 5 ends, but never say die. They picked up a 4 on the next end, brought it back to 6-10 with an end to go, and grabbed 4 on the last to gain a remarkable and unlikely draw.

Suffolk were off to a good start against Cambridgeshire, but their lead dissolved, and Suffolk went down to a 5-8 loss.

Suffolk could do with bouncing back, and they did just that, against undefeated leaders Sunderland, trouncing them 17-4 to open up the title race. Suffolk ended Saturday in 4th, but they were only 1 point behind the three leaders.

Sunday’s first game against Hertfordshire was always going to be tough. Suffolk held in there for 7 ends, at which point they trailed 5-6, but the game ran away from them on the last couple of ends, and they ended up losing 5-11.

Against Northumberland, Suffolk were up against it from the start, and were 0-6 after 5 ends, but they pulled off another huge comeback, grabbing 3 on the last to draw the game 7-7.

The final game was against Durham. Having trailed 3-6 after 4 ends, Suffolk rallied to take the lead, finally winning 10-9, which left them third overall on 8 points, 11 shots ahead of Essex, while Sunderland took the title on 12 points, with Herts in second on 10 points.

Weekend Record - W-D-L-W-L-D-W

PAIRS
Paul Daniels & Oscar Mew
Starting off again Sunderland, it was all square after 4 ends,4-4, but Suffolk picked up 7 shots over the next 2 ends, which set them up for a 12-7 win.

They could hardly have started better in the next game, against Hertfordshire, they were 7-0 up after just 2 ends. It came back a little in the next couple of ends, but they kept their noses in front, and finished off as they started, with 2 good ends, to win 16-5.

Next up were also undefeated Northumberland, the game ought to have been close, but it wasn’t. Oscar and Paul were 11-0 up after 4 ends, and went on to win 15-1. They were now the sole leaders.

They ended the day with a match against Durham, likely to be their toughest, and so it turned out to be. It was all square after 6 ends, 4-4, but Durham edged in front and put them in an impossible situation on the last end. Suffolk lost 4-10, and ended the day in a three-way tie for the lead, with Durham and Northumberland.

Sunday’s opening game was against Norfolk, and while Suffolk just had their noses in front at the start, Norfolk won a string of ends, and with two to go, Norfolk led 5-3. However the penultimate end saw Suffolk pick up a 4, and then added to that on the last end to gain a hard-earned 9-5 win. Both Durham and Northumberland also won.

The penultimate game was against Essex, and they struggled against an opposition who played a slow carpet much better than they did. They lost 5-8, and were now second with Durham 2 points ahead with a game to go.

And they finished with another loss, to Cambridgeshire, who were having a much better second day. The match finished 9-11.

Durham won the title on 12 points, Suffolk were just the best of three teams who finished on 8 points, and so finished second.

Weekend Record - W-W-W-L-W-L-L

SINGLES
Peter Fellingham
Peter was off to a good start against Sunderland, leading 4-0 after 4 ends, but he didn’t add to his score after that point, and ended up with a 4-9 loss.

Unfortunately his second game fell away from him as well. Against Hertfordshire it was all square after 4 ends, but he lost 3 on the next end, and couldn’t get back after that, losing 6-10.

Things improved against Northumberland, Peter was 5-9 down with 2 ends to go, but was able to grab a 9-9 draw to finally get off the mark.

Peter had now found his stride, the final game on Saturday saw him up against Durham, he quickly ran out to a 6-0 lead, and brought home an 8-4 win. He ended the day tied for 4th, 5 points off the leader Norfolk.

Peter took on Matt (Norfolk) in Sunday’s opening game, and started well, winning the first 2 ends, but all the remaining ends went to Matt.

Peter didn’t fare much better in his penultimate game, falling to a 3-11 loss to Essex.

Happily he finished on a high, with a win over Cambridgeshire, despite dropping 6 shots over the last 2 ends, he won 10-9. Matt Frost from Norfolk was the clear winner, Peter finished 6th.

Weekend Record - L-L-D-W-L-L-W

TEAM
Sunderland and Suffolk led the way on 6 points after the first set of games, with Essex in third, on 5 points.

After 2 sessions, Sunderland had just edged ahead, they were on 12 points, with Suffolk just one behind.

Suffolk held second place after 3 rounds, but only just. They were now 4 points behind Sunderland, but only 2 points covered them and the next 4 teams.

Suffolk ended Saturday on 18 points, in 3rd place, only 2 points behind leaders Sunderland, with Cambridgeshire sitting in second, on 19 points.

Things stayed very close after Sunday’s first session, with Suffolk still 3rd, and still 2 points behind Sunderland.

With one session to go, Suffolk had slipped to 4th, 5 points behind both Sunderland and Cambridgeshire.

Suffolk weren't able to improve their position in that final session, finishing 4th on 29 points. Sunderland took the win on 36 points, followed by Durham and Cambridgeshire on 32.

You can find a full copy of the weekend's results here.