POOL COMPETITION
Thursday 16th December

The BADCASS Pool Competition concluded this years' social events in true style at Riley's Pool Bar on Queen's Row, Clifton. Fresh from the rigours of exams, a staggering 60 students arrived to compete in the pool tournament sponsored by Michael Page.

As in previous years, each contestant had the opportunity to prove themselves in their opening games, the losers would go on to compete in the imaginatively titled "Losers" tournament, while the winners would thrash it out in the equally creative "Winners" tournament.

In a series of knock out rounds the contenders were whittled down to just two sets of finalists, with the Winners tournament fronted by John Jennings (who else?!) of Robson Taylor and Dave Washbrook of KPMG. The Loser's tournament was an all PWC final between Phil Dumas and Andy Fellows.

I wish I could say that the Winners final was a tense and close affair. Dave Washbrook made the mistake of breaking; it was to be his one and only shot as John Jennings went on to make a remarkable 8 ball clearance allowing him to retain his title. In a controversial departure from traditional pool rules, Dave failed to drop his trousers and run round the table, but then again there were about 40 people watching him. John was presented with a generous bottle of champagne for first prize from Nick Bentley of Michael Page.

The Losers final was a little more exciting with both players holding their ground. The eventual winner was Phil Dumas, who received a bottle of wine for his efforts.

As for myself, again despite all my bravado I got knocked out in the first round by Chris Price of Baker Tilly - I couldn't believe it. If I can't even beat Chris, what hope have I got?

The most surprising performance of the evening goes to Kate Owen of PWC, who managed to reach the quarter finals of the Winners tournament despite the disadvantage of being a, ahem, girl - good effort!!

I was pleased to see that there were a fair few of us who managed to make it down into the bowels of the Lizard Lounge to dance and drink the remainder of the night away.

Once again, I hope that everyone would agree with me that this event was a huge success, to which we owe a great deal of thanks to Michael Page for their more than generous sponsorship.

Have a flick through the photos, there are some good ones.

click on photos to enlarge