Mike Jacobs regained the Ken Hewison Winter Handicap title by beating David Sledge
in an entertaining final on Sunday 8 March. He had previously held the title in 2006.
Earlier in the day, David had liberated the crown from the grasp of Simon Free who had
been looking to add a consecutive Winter title to match the two Summer titles he holds.
The final was a step too far for David, though, even with the help of an 80 – 40 starting handicap;
the points came all too slowly for him to halt Michael’s relentless progress towards the magic
figure of 100. After a series of punishing rallies, Michael reached that mark whilst David was
still on 96, his dream of repeating his own 2001 victory having long since slipped from his grasp.
The small crowd had mostly slipped away at the final whistle making the trophy ceremony a quiet
affair. Organisers, Richard and Anita Crosbie, were pleased to report a 60% increase in the number
of entrants compared with the last handicap tournament. In the main tournament, three matches reached
the magic 100 - 99 score and a further seven were settled by five points or less.
