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Percival-Smith Dominates at Queen Victoria AC Tournament in British Columbia
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            Home town hero Chris Percival-Smith didn't lose a game en route to a triple-peeling finish in the annual Victoria Day Weekend AC Championship in Victoria, BC.  The four-day event, starting May 15 and running through Victoria Day on the 18th, pitted seven British Columbians and one Ontarian against each other on two courts.  The fact that none of the familiar US entrants to this decade-old event made an appearance this year suggests strongly that international tensions and financial concerns are having an impact on our game.

            Play began with an eight-player round robin.  Chris finished with 7 wins, followed by Michael Kernaghan of Abbotsford with 6 and Pierre Dunn of Victoria with 5.  Campbell River's Brian Wasylyk, the Tournament Director, rounded out the top four, who joined in block play to seed the Championship Final.  The remaining four players moved into Plate competition:  Jane Beharriell of Toronto, Tony Simmonds and James White of Saturna Island, and Victoria's Bruce Gillespie.

            Chris took 3 more games in the Championship Block before meeting Brian in the Final, which Chris won with a convincing triple peel, 26-1.  Jane returned to Toronto with the Plate, as richly-decorated and tasteful a piece of virtual china as one could ever imagine, by beating Tony in the Plate Final 12-6.

            Six of the competitors are scheduled to use their Queen Victoria experience as a tuneup for June's Canadian National Championships — CroqCan — in Bayfield, Ontario.  In addition to Chris' steady play over several years, we can expect to hear good things about Michael Kernaghan's results — he is showing considerable improvement in his long-range shooting, hoop-running, and ball control and will probably surprise a few of his opponents.

            The weather for the Queen Victoria event was quite satisfactory, despite the scattering of hail and a coldly drippy day that simply served to remind us we were playing in Victoria, for Pete's Sake!  The lawns were in excellent condition.  Kathy Moi Barker of the Victoria Bowls and Croquet Club made sure everyone was very satisfactorily fed, including at the welcoming BBQ on Friday night, and Bruce Gillespie graciously hosted a cocktail event on Sunday evening before the final games on Monday.  The VBCC provided two courts on Saturday and Monday, and VBCC and the Canadian Pacific Lawn Bowling and Croquet Club each provided one court on Friday and Sunday, freeing up some time for the lawn bowlers at both venues.
 
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— Pierre Dunn
Tournament Structure and Results
            There were eight entrants in the 2026 Queen Victoria Open.  All eight played a full round-robin against the other seven players.  The results seeded the players into two groups:  a Championship group and a Plate group.  Competitors in each of these groups played round robins against the other three members of their groups.  Results of the second round robin seeded the players into each group's finals.  Top-seeded Chris met and defeated 4th seed Michael while Brian took out Pierre.  Chris beat Brian with a 26-1 TP in the Championship final.

            In the Plate contest, Top seed Jane beat Bruce in the semi-final while Tony won against James.  In the final, Jane took down Tony 12-6.  The losing semi-finalists elected not to play for third place in either group.

Results of individual games can be found on CroquetScores.com
Position Player Division
1st Chris Percival-Smith Championship
2nd Brian Wasylyk
3rd / 4th Michael Kernaghan Tie
3rd / 4th Pierre Dunn Tie
5th Jane Beharriell Plate
6th Tony Simmonds
7th / 8th James White Tie
7th / 8th Bruce Gillespie Tie
— Jim Wright
jdepwright@gmail.com

The Mallet - May 2026