Swan Hill VIC 3585, Australia, 16 February 2018 | Tennis Victoria

Tennis Victoria Country Week 2018 has come to an end, and what a week it was. Swan Hill Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club played host to a fantastic week of tennis, fun, friendships and community.

On the final day there could only be 24 winners. In Ladies A Grade, Tandara made it three in a row, and their 10th title since 2007. Tandara were also the inaugural winners of the Gilchrist/Pearce Award, an award struck to reward the best performing men’s or ladies team in any grade based on percentage of games for and against. Tandara didn’t drop a set all week and finished with a percentage of 344.62.

In the Men’s A Grade final, the Lecontes attempted to win three in a row but were upstaged by Country Week newcomers, Nar Nar Goon Bags. The Nar Nar Goon team were consistently strong all week and continued that today winning 2-27 to 1-23.

Wangaratta Green avenged their six previous Grand Final losses to finally get the win over club mates Wangaratta Troopers in Men’s B1.

The Gippsland area will be celebrating with nine teams from across the region taking home the winner’s trophy and towels.

It was a big day for families with Kieran Fitzgerald (Not Our Faultz in Bendigo) and son Aidan (Nar Nar Goon Bags) getting the win in their grades. Another family celebrating tonight are the ladies from the Sunbury Sippers. Returning to the winners list with a win in Ladies C3, June Morton, Jodie Boyes and Maddie Boyes are three generations playing together this week.

By the numbers:
1200 players took part in Tennis Victoria Country Week.
200 teams competed – 120 female teams, 80 male teams.
There were 24 grades contested over the week.
Over 4700 eight game sets were played.
1728 Wilson grass court tennis balls were used.
95 pristine grass courts were curated and prepared by Swan Hill Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. This included 51 permanent courts and 44 courts prepared on the soccer fields.
95 tennis nets were produced by Henderson’s of Bendigo. The temporary court nets are then available for purchase by participating teams to take home to their clubs.
1040 lines were marked using 180 litres of line marker.
100kms were walked by Curator Daniel Gardner.
1000 egg and bacon rolls were eaten by weary morning participants.
500 scotch fillet steaks were consumed.
1500 Dim Sims, 2025 Pies and Sausage Rolls and 2450 chicken and salad rolls were enjoyed.
100kgs of Fruit Salad was prepared with 500 Salads boxes and 2200 sandwiches eaten.
Over 5000 bottles of water kept players hydrated.
3 boxes of lemons were cut up to accompany the Coronas. 355 Cocktails were prepared.
720 wraps were made using 45kgs of carrots and 192 lettuce with many other fillings.
6 participants were named inaugural Country Week Legends.
Over 50 hardworking volunteers from the Swan Hill Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, working together with Tennis Victoria, contributed to the wonderful event presentation that the club displayed.
Swan Hill teams had the shortest drive to get to Country Week. Others had a bigger trip with players travelling from as far as the United Kingdom, Darwin, Coffs Harbour and Dubbo.
Mick Keogh of Wangaratta Rust is the most senior Country Week player at the age of 80.
26 balls were lost in the dam.

The greatest community sporting event may have come to an end for another year but we know it will be back again in 2019 from Sunday 10 to Friday 15 February when it heads to Shepparton/Mooroopna.

To view all finalist images click here.