Salop star slinger Steph Clarke metaphorically became the bread in a WADC Winmau Championship North weekend sandwich, with Vicky Pruim and Natalie Gilbert providing the filling after claiming both the opening and closing events in Middlesbrough.
Kick-starting the weekend on Teesside, Clarke overcame Marie Fitton and Angela Kirkwood before edging past Kirsty Hutchinson in a thrilling last-leg decider. The Shrewsbury thrower was solid throughout the day and it’s always nice to be first out of the traps. Even better when you wrap things up with a title too.
Onto the afternoon tournament, where Swedish slinger Vicky Pruim, nicknamed Antwerp Lightning, got the job done to reward herself with a cheque requiring a hatchback just to get it home. Before you say, “Hang on, isn’t Antwerp in Belgium?” Yes, it is. But that’s where Vicky was born, and her nickname came long before the benefit of hindsight, emigration to ABBA-land and a subsequent change of nationality. Anyway, she now lives in the UK just to confuse matters even further.
In the semi-finals, the Swede – now Chester resident – denied Clarke another appearance in the final, bringing an impressive unbeaten run to an end by the narrowest of margins. Then, in the showdown, she had too much for Sara Walton who, for reasons known only to herself, has an ice cream cone emoji next to her name on Darts Atlas. Upon further inspection, it appears chocolate and mint chip are her favourite flavours… although I may have completely made that up.
Onto Sunday and, with Pruim looking dangerously close to going back-to-back, she was stopped by Lauryn Salter in the semi-finals. Lauryn also has an emoji next to her name on Darts Atlas, although I still can’t make head nor tail of what it’s supposed to be. If I had to hazard a guess, I’d say another ice cream cone, perhaps with a scoop of chocolate and mint chip. Then again, I probably need to find a better hobby. Anyway, I digress.
Meanwhile, Natalie Gilbert quietly went about her business, seeing off recent PDC Women’s Series winner Eleanor Cairns to set up a showdown with Salter.
In yet another epic encounter, it was Midlander Gilbert who just got over the line first, pinching the deciding leg to lift the title. Hats off to Nat. After suffering a stroke, many players wouldn’t have made it back to the oche, never mind returning to lift silverware.
To cap another high-quality weekend in England’s North East, Clarke finished exactly as she had started the previous day by picking up another title. This time it was Sunderland lass Angela Kirkwood who fell in the showdown, with the only consolation being she could still make it home in time for the start of Heartbeat.
Congrats to all the winners and I’m virtually applauding the rest of you from afar.
