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British Minigolf Association
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2008
14 May 2008
Great Britain Team Minigolf Report – European Nations Cup in Tampere, Finland
Eight Great Britain Minigolfers competed in two teams in the 2008 European Minigolfsport Federation (EMF) Nations Cup in Tampere, Finland on the 10th and 11th May. The tournament was played over 8-rounds on two tough 18-hole Eternit and Beton European Standard Minigolf courses against 54 players from nine countries, making up 13 teams.
The Great Britain teams were selected to include a mixture of experienced players on the European courses and new players to Eternit and Beton. The eight players were split into two teams competing as Great Britain Teams 1 & 2 and were Captained by John McIver and Coached by Finland’s Jouni Valkjarvi.
The tournament was won by Austria with a team total of 843 strokes after 8 rounds, with Germany in second place and 2007 Nations Cup winners Switzerland in third place. The other countries competing were Finland, Sweden, Russia, Canada and the Netherlands.
After playing six rounds over 10 hours on Saturday and two further rounds on Sunday, Great Britain 1 finished the tournament in 12th place with 1,224 strokes. Great Britain 2 finished the tournament in 13th place with a total of 1,333 strokes.
Team Captain John McIver said of the team and the tournament “I am very proud of the way that the team played in very intense and testing conditions. On these courses there is little to no margin for error and while we had team averages of 2.1 and 2.3 per hole, the winning Austrian team managed an average of 1.46 per hole and that made all the difference.”
John added “I think we all did very well as playing Eternit and Beton is very different from MOS.” Overall it was a great tournament, with top company and a terrific setting helping to make it an excellent Minigolf Tour.”
Great Britain Coach Jouni Valkjarvi said of the team’s performance “I think that the players did well considering the short time they had to practice the courses. With five of the team never having played a Beton or Eternit course before and then being able to compete for two days against players who have years of experience on the European Standard courses shows the commitment and passion the team has for Minigolf.”
John Mittler from the EMF Organising Committee said “The playing system makes a difference in international competitions, as each country performs best on course types that are most common in their country. Sweden plays awe-inspiring scores on felt courses, while Germany has been controlling Beton competitions. On Eternit the competition has been tight between several countries. Eternit and Open System courses create very small score differences between players, while the greatest score differences are seen on felt courses.”
The Great Britain Minigolf Sport Team is sponsored by UrbanCrazy (www.urbancrazy.com), a pioneering company providing portable crazy golf entertainment and installing permanent miniature golf courses across the UK.
In August the Great Britain Minigolf Sport Team will again be competing in Tampere, Finland at the EMF European Minigolf Championships 2008. Further details are available at www.minigolf2008.com.
British Minigolf Association
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2008