WPA Mixed Doubles Champions - Michael Rocks & Michelle Maxwell
Twenty-two teams took part in the eighth WPA Mixed Doubles Championship held at the Otaki Pétanque club.
The format was a 4 round random draw followed by a single elimination knockout in groups of eight.
After the qualiftying games, nine teams had registered 3 wins (no team won all 4 games). with Christine Daykin and Alan Taylor the unlucky team to miss out on the Trophy section.
Michelle Maxwell & Michael Rocks, beaten finalists last year, went one better to win the Championship final against Annick Le Guen & Kevin McFadgen.
This is Michelle's fourth Mixed Doubles title and Michael's first.
Twenty teams took part in Rex Hayes Memorial Mixed Doubles last month. Michelle Maxwell and Michael Rocks defeated Annick Le Guen and Kevin McFadgen to win the title for the third time.
Twenty-six teams took part in Horowhenua Pétanque Same Club Doubles. Two teams: Seymour Harawira/Theresa Harawira (Silverstream) and Debby Butler/Michelle Maxwell (Kapiti) finished with 5 wins.
Seymour and Theresa took first place on superior points differential.
Upper Hutt Pétanque Club hosted a challenge by Horowhenua Pétanque Club for the Jacques Cochonnet trophy on Wednesday 22nd October 2025 at their Maidstone Park terrain.
In the 1st round, Upper Hutt took the doubles and triples games. This was repeated in the 2nd round, putting Upper Hutt up 4-2 and needing only one win from the 3rd round to retain the trophy. They went one better and took the singles and triples games, reaching an overall score of 6 games to 3, the 19th consecutive win and 18th defence for this prestigious trophy.
The Upper Hutt team consisted of Derek Worsley (singles), Dave Gwerder and Colin Gooch (doubles) and Brian Smith, Mary Khalil and Adrienne Gwerder (triples). The Horowhenua team consisted of Gavin Jones (singles), Marie Jones and Judy Tyree (doubles) and Ricky Winkel, Jon Whittaker and Jan Haumaha (triples)
The next challenge is from Naenae and will be away for Upper Hutt, after the last five challenges having being at home.
Twenty-two teams (four less than last year) took part in the Regional Doubles at Kapiti. The format was a five round Swiss on Saturday with a time limit of 50 minutes plus one end.
The top 8 went into the Trophy section, the next 8 into the Plate and the bottom 6 into the Bowl.
The Trophy final on Sunday saw Yvonne Futcher (Wanganui East)/Alan Taylor (Kapiti) against Te Wai Haa Rangi Biddle-Amoroa (Wanganui East)/Aurelie Bray (Kapiti) with Yvonne and Alan taking the title 13-5.
Seven players registered to take part in the Shooting Competition (Tir de Précision) held in conjunction with the Regional Doubles. Despite not reaching the minimum number of participants (8) it went ahead this year. In a very low scoring final Michelle Maxwell (Kapiti) beat Michael Rocks (Naenae).
Twelve teams took part in the Khandallah Labour Weekend Doubles.
After the midweek wild weather it was a relief to have sun and light winds.
The format was the traditional four round Snake draw to determine the "ranking" and the fifth game to determine the prizes (chocolates or wine).
Several players were taking part in their first organised Pétanque event and it was great to see the more experienced players giving them encouragement.
