The Heath Tournament 2025

Graham Pulsford reports:

23/09/25: A great morning of fives at Aldenham on Sunday concluded with Elana Osen and Frankie Manderson-Harkin edging past Chris Austin and Pete Scholey in the final to take the Jim Fredenham Cup.

This was no mean feat in a field that included a host of top-quality players; Andrew Rennie, Darshan Patel, Chris Austin, Nirav Patel, Simon Randall and Chris Cernuschi to name but a few!

The ‘top eight’ players were kept apart in the otherwise open draw and this produced some interesting pairings. The immediate favorites were Nirav Patel/Richard Dennis but also in the mix were Darshan Patel/Paul Kendall, Andrew Rennie/Phil Lyndon, Chris Austin/Pete Scholey and dark horses Elana Osen/Frankie M-H and David Ingram/Simon Randall. There would be no easy win for any pair.

There were some nail bitingly close matches. Andrew Rennie/Phil Lyndon were edged out by two points by Chris Austin/Pete Scholey, and then Chris Austin/Pete Scholey pushed their luck even further to beat Nirav Patel/Richard Dennis by a single point in another excellent match. David Ingram/Simon Randall similarly lost by the narrowest of margins against Chris Cernuschi/Dan Saunders. And in a ‘less close’ match Elana Osen/Frankie M-H won the ‘family duel’ by ousting Gideon Osen/Graham Pulsford without undue effort.

The two unbeaten pairs contesting the final were the battle-hardened Chris Austin/Pete Scholey and the younger Elana Osen/Frankie M-H. It was clear from the start that Frankie was having a good day and, with Elana providing solid support, they took an early lead and, with a steady return of cut, kept the scoreboard ticking on. This put added pressure on Chris and Pete who struggled to get into the game and made a number of uncharacteristic unforced errors. In timed fives this is critical and despite a late revival the younger pair won by a 5-point margin.

Jim Fredenham presented the James Fredenham Trophy to the winners who were obviously delighted! The 2025 winners’ shirt was unveiled as bright yellow and green combination - very similar to that worn by Norwich City!

The presentation was followed by a convivial and lengthy lunch at the Roundbush pub (although there was the curious incident of the torn five-pound note).

Our thanks Neil Margerison for assisting Jim as both timekeeper and scorer.

Other points of interest:

Elana is the third lady to win the Heath Tournament (after Emily and Karen)

Simon Randall had the best-behaved children.

Chris Cernuschi had the nicest girlfriend.

Gideon Osen was the proudest parent.

Andrew Rennie wore the ‘loudest’ shirt.

Rubel Mallik continued to be our most injured player (of the season)