The first ever CSSC Racketlon tournament took place on a Saturday in May 2008 at Redbridge Sports Centre in Essex.
With over 40 competitors coming from all over the country and all over the Civil Service participating in both a Men's and Ladies tournament there was plenty of games to be played.
For those unfamiliar with how a Racketlon match is played it consists of playing your opponent in Table Tennis, Badminton, Squash and Tennis respectively. The only break you get is when you move from one court to another! Games are played up to 15 points with a rally scoring you a point regardless of whether-or-not you served. The winner of the match is the player with the highest overall score - so in theory you can lose in 3 games but still win the match.
All 4 sports were well represented with some cracking games witnessed but at the end of the day being "excellent" in just one of the sports isn't going to get you anywhere. Racketlon really pushes your ability to adapt quickly to a different sport and pushes you both mentally and physically.
The Men's competition was played using the "Monrad" format which guaranteed players 5 matches whatever their outcome. The final was a very close encounter between the UK #6 Keith Lesser (British Telecom) and Veterans #1 Graham Norton (Ministry of Defence). The match was far from over when it came to the tennis however it was the experience from the veteran that finally overcame youth and Graham clinched the game 16-14 to win 49-39 overall and claim the honour of being the first Men's CSSC Racketlon winner.
The ladies competition which was split into 2 graded groups and then played on a round robin basis was won by CSSC's Patricia Wood with Squash's very own Kay Dalton (HM Revenue & Customs) coming runner up. Congratulations Kay!
The score sheet can be downloaded by clicking here (Excel Format).
With 5 matches to be played (20 games) the day was quite an intense experience and physically demanding - the free sports massager laid on by CSSC was much appreciated!
Although the future of the Racketlon event is yet to be decided all the indications from both competitors and organisers was that we should see Racketlon on the program for next year. As ever we shall keep you posted on our website but you can also keep an eye on the CSSC Website. You can can also view CSSC's event report by clicking here and a report on the UK Racketlon website here.
Below are some photos of the action taken from the event (courtesy of Mark Rylander):
