The sun was shining and the lacrosse was great, the 40th Bath Eights festival was by all accounts, one of the best.
On the day there were 32 teams entered into the 40th Men’s tournament (41st year but one was lost due to COVID), and 22 teams entered the Women’s 9th tournament.
Both competitions provided some spectacular lacrosse; 6 hours and nearly 200 games, cumulated in a couple of fantastic finals.
In the Men’s tournament, Cheadle LC were victorious over Wilmslow LC 2:1 making the men in green the most successful team over the 40 years.
The Winners were awarded a commemorative engraved salver to mark the occasion
In the Women’s Stockport LC beat St Mary’s Calne 1st team 3:1.
A return to the winners’ podium 8 years after winning the first ever Women’s tournament.
Bath has been live streaming the main pitches for the last 4 years, this year an additional Men’s and Women’s pitch were added using AI cameras, giving more teams a chance to shine. The last count was 3K views worldwide, Bath is really out there.
The home teams had mixed fortunes, with the men failing to get to the knockout stages.
The Bath women’s team however came in 6th in the final standings of the play in, which pitched them against York University Alumni, a team that had beaten them earlier on in the day in the quarter finals.
And what a game – finally York came out winners 4:3 after 3 periods of sudden death overtime – so close yet so far.
The tournament itself couldn’t run without the officials and volunteers, so a huge thank you to the men and women in stripes. And a gigantic thank you to the Scorers, Bar Staff, Stash salespeople, Car park attendants and logistics – you are all stars.
This year a special mention should go to Lilleys Cider, the company has supported the tournament from the first day they came into exitance, and Chris Lilley, the company’s founder has supported the Bath Eights from the very first tournament in 1986.
This year they went over and above, providing a Van to transport the equipment from Trowbridge at the last minute after the hire company (won’t give them a shout out) let the club down at 8pm on the Thursday night.
Another thank you to AmbulanceServices 24 who provided excellent medical cover and to the GLL staff, manning the Odd Down facility with a smile.
The Bath Eights provides the finance to help Bath Develop lacrosse in the area, and all the profits go to the game of lacrosse.
Here’s to the 2027 tournament, which will mark 10 years for the Women’s event – special trophy on order