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Emily Scoones reports:

The first ever Ladies Festival Day was held at Eton on the 15^th of May. This new individual competition was to celebrate the growth and improvement of the Ladies’ game within the Fives world. The field was split into two groups so that less experienced players were always paired with a more experienced one. Each round saw the partners rotated so by the end of round 8 each person had played with everyone from the other group and against everyone else in their group.

The competition was won by Ashley Lumbard, with 78 points out of a possible 84, who played consistently solid Fives throughout the day. A penalty shoot-out  - first to hit a shot into  the hole - was needed to decide second place with Wendy Carling, Mandie Barnes and Emily Scoones all finishing the day on 76 points.

Great Fives was played with all players gaining experience and improving throughout the day as well as having a lot of fun. A massive well done must be said to Alex Steel, a Rugby Fives player, who was dabbling at Eton Fives for the first time and played extremely well.

Thanks must go to Seb Cooley for helping to set up the day and for filling in in the morning meaning everyone got to play more Fives. Also thanks to Peter Worth and the EFA for helping fund the day and the refreshments afterwards.

It was a great day of Fives, with a good number of ladies entering which made it a successful event that we hope will continue to grow over the years to come.

The final results:

1. Ashley Lumbard (78)
2. Emily Scoones (76) - actual second due to penalty shoot-out
2 Mandie Barnes (76)
2. Wendy Carling (76)
5. Alex Steel (70)
6. Kerry White (68)
7. Sarah Frost (63)
7. Natalie Lilienthal (63)
9 Annabel Griffiths (58)
10. Stephanie Smith (43)
11. Anita Ganguly (42)