A team from Melksham has triumphed in a national skittles competition.
Melksham Sports saw off 12 teams from Wales, Bristol, Gloucester and Wiltshire to lift the trophy in a thrilling final, winning by just two pins.
Melksham Sports who play out of the Forest Community Centre, travelled to Torquay for their annual outing in the Serious About Events series of weekend tournaments. Various members of the team have been competing in the competition since 1996, but success on the podium has only come to them in recent years. Last year, they were runners-up and they came third in 2014. Normally the Sports are a men’s team but they had to recruit some women to make up the numbers. This seems to have been the key to their success.
Team captain Sue Pearce confessed that they were surprised to win.
“We only made it to the finals on the second day of the tournament on pin countback,” she said, “so we only scraped through as the fourth of the four finalists. But on the day, everyone managed to play well. We were still surprised when we won though. It was close.”
The team beat nearest rivals the Exiles from Bristol by 401 points to 399. Samson Rams B from Bristol came third with 394 followed by Crwys A from Caerphilly on 374.
The Sports will be back in Torquay for another tournament before the season finishes at the end of the month.