Individual handicap competition. One game to 42 points.

This year’s early-season Bagshaw Trophy has been won by Mick Wilcockson of York Railway Institute.

Competitors played in round-robin groups with four players going forward to the finals evening. Other group winners were two of Railway’s leading juniors, Jake McCarthy and Nathan Taylor, and Bootham’s Rick Gledhill who battled through the pain barrier having recently had surgery on his left hand, and was still heavily bandaged.

On finals evening all the early group games were well contested and included a tense tie between Wilcockson and eventual fellow-finalist McCarthy. Although the rapidly improving McCarthy managed to get in a number of good topspins and kills in the grand final, Wilcockson’s rock solid defence was too much for him this time.

Bagshaw organiser and League Chair, Tim Smith, said “It’s fantastic to see the season off to good start again with so many great quality games in the group and final stages of the competition, and it’s particularly satisfying to see the juniors making good progress. We have quite a few new young people coming to coaching at Millthorpe and I would really like to get them linking in with clubs and get them moving up the leagues like Jake and Nathan have.”