Champion of Champions 2026

This year's event was held over 6-7 June at the Hartlepool Indoor Bowling Centre. The competitors rose to 9 counties for the first time in several years, with the addition of Lancashire. Rinks Early leaders Essex and Cambridgeshire were undefeated after 3 games, while Hertfordshire had won both their opening games. Essex and Herfordshire won again, while Cambridgeshire sat out the session. Essex closed out Saturday with their first loss while the other two won their games. That put all three on 8 points with Essex having played a game more. Already it was clear that the title was going to one of these three teams. However, Sunday saw open with Essex beating Cambs, while Herts suffered a very narrow loss. Essex led by 2 points, with the other two having a game in hand. Cambridgeshire won again, this time taking down their other rival, Hertfordshire and with Essex losing the momentum was clearly with Cambs. The leaders continued their run of wins to now go 2 points clear of Hertfordshire, Essex and now Sunderland who were on a fun of 5 consecutive wins. The final round of games saw Essex beat Hertfordshire, who were both overtaken by Sunderland who won again, but it was Cambridgeshire who took their 7th win out of 8 who took the title by 2 points. Winners: Sharon Richardson, Jonathan Carter, Ian Carter & Nigel Pate (Cambridgeshire) Triples Three rounds in and there were all of 5 teams tied on 4 points, Essex, Norfolk and Durham had all won 2 and lost 1, while Hertfordshire and Sunderland had played twice and won twice. Three of those teams won their next games, Norfolk, Durham and Herts, with the latter having a game in hand over the rest. Saturday finished with Hertfordshire now clearly in charge, having won all 4 of their games. Norfolk and Sunderland had played the same number of games but had each lost one. Herts and Norfolk both started Sunday with wins. Hertfordshire were on 10 points, Norfolk were 2 behind, and both were pulling away from the rest of the field. The two leaders won again putting them on 12 and 10 points respectively, as did Sunderland and Durham who were on 8 points with only a mathematical chance of taking the title. The first stumble for Herts occurred in the penultimate round of games. They lost as did Norfolk, however Herfordshire still held a 2 point lead while Norfolk, Sunderland and Durham were 2 points behind, with everyone on similar shots. All Herts needed was a draw, but it proved to be beyond them as they fell to Essex, meanwhile Norfolk also lost, but the other two, Durham and Sunderland both won. A three-way tie on points, so it came down to shots. Herts were on 72, Sunderland 78, but Durham who had been 4th before the start of the final game came through to finish on 82 shots to retain the title. Pairs The late withdrawal of Cambridgeshire due to illness meant that there were only 8 competing Pairs. Durham won all of their first 3 games, while Hertfordshire were also undefeated having played just twice. Durham then lost, while Essex won to join them on 3 wins out of 4, and Hertfordshire had won all 3 of their games. Hertfordshire dropped their first point in Saturday's final round of games, but still led the way from Essex, Durham and Sunderland who were all on 6 points but had played 5, 4 and 3 games respectively. Sunday began with another Herts win taking them 3 points clear of Essex, Northumberland, Durham and Sunderland, although the latter two had played one game less than the rest. Herts then had to sit out while Essex and Sunderland both won to close to within a point. The penultimate games saw wins for both Hertfordshire and Sunderland leaving them as the only two still in contention. Hertfordshire led by one point and 2 shots, so while they were still in the catbird seat they couldn't play for anything less than a win. Sunderland went on to win their final game while Herts were in a closely fought tussle which ended up just going the way of Essex 7-6 meaning that Hertfordshire, having led for so long missed out right at the last by 1 point to Sunderland. Winners: Michael Laydon & Aiden Turnes (Sunderland) Singles After the first 3 rounds Kevin Hutchinson (Durham) led the way with 3 wins out of 3, Norfolk (Matt Frost) and Peter Orrin (Essex) had both won 2 and lost 1, while Adam Wilson (Sunderland) had won both his games having sat out a session. Kevin and Adam drew the next game, while the other two lost, while Pete Cook was now on 2 wins out of 3. Saturday closed out with Kevin drawing again to move on to 8 points from 5 games, Adam won to go to 7 points from 4, and Pete won to finish the day on 6 points from 4. Sunday's opening round saw the top contenders level up on games, all having played 5 times. Pete and Kevin were on 8 points, Adam on 7, with Matt Frost (Norfolk) on 6. Pete and Adam won their 6th games while the others both lost, so it seemed like it was coming down to a fight between the two of them. That was all but confirmed as Adam won his penultimate game while Pete drew with Kevin. That put Pete and Adam on to 11 points with Kevin 2 points adrift, but crucially Pete had a 13 shot advantage which meant that a draw would be good enough in his final game. As it was it was Adam who drew while Pete won. That meant Pete finished on 13 points to retain the title, Adam was a point behind, and Kevin one more point adrift. Behind them it was very close, the remaining 6 players covered by just 2 points. Winner: Pete Cook (Hertfordshire) Team With an odd number of teams which meant that every county had to take turns sitting out a session, and Cambridgeshire missing their Pair, the number of games played by the various counties was very much out of line until the final session was played, but the frontrunners were clear very early on. By the time 4 of Saturday's 5 rounds of games had been played Hertfordshire were comfortably top, they had 29 points from 16 games, Sunderland were on 23 points (15 games), Essex 22 (20 games) and Durham 22 (19 games). It was even more clear as Saturday finished with Hertfordshire now even further ahead on 35 points from 20 games, 9 points clear of Essex who had played 3 games more, while Sunderland were on 25 points (19 games). After Sunday's first set of games Essex looked like they were out of the running, and it was now down to just Hertfordshire and Sunderland, who had no played the same numebr of games, with Herts holding a 6 point advantage. One round of games to go and Sunderland had closed the gap once more, Hertfordshire's advantage was down to 3 points. Unfortunately for Hertfordshire they were suffering a nightmare all round, very much in the fight for all 5 trophies, only the Single won, while the rest lost and Sunderland dropped just one point in that final session as they came through to take the overall win by 2 points, having been 10 points behind with just 3 sessions to go. RINKS Pts Shots Cambridgeshire 14 87 Sunderland 12 86 Essex 12 82 Hertfordshire 10 83 Suffolk 8 81 Durham 6 52 Norfolk 4 54 Northumberland 4 42 Lancashire 2 25 TRIPLES Pts Shots Durham 12 82 Sunderland 12 78 Hertfordshire 12 72 Norfolk 10 71 Cambridgeshire 9 59 Essex 8 59 Northumberland 5 67 Suffolk 4 50 Lancashire 0 21 PAIRS Pts Shots Sunderland 12 68 Hertfordshire 11 65 Essex 10 68 Durham 8 84 Suffolk 7 72 Northumberland 6 57 Norfolk 2 40 Lancashire 0 16 Cambridgeshire - - SINGLES Pts Shots Hertfordshire 13 78 Sunderland 12 64 Durham 11 65 Cambridgeshire 7 53 Lancashire 6 58 Norfolk 6 55 Essex 6 50 Suffolk 6 49 Northumberland 5 47 TEAM Pts Shots Sunderland 48 296 Hertfordshire 46 298 Durham 37 283 Essex 36 259 Cambridgeshire 30 199 Suffolk 25 252 Norfolk 22 220 Northumberland 20 274 Lancashire 8 120 You can find all the weekend's results here. Full list of the past winners here. Video of Day 1 and Day 2

updated 10/06/26