40th YEAR OF CLASSIC GOES OFF IN STYLE

The 40th year of the Weymouth Beach Classic with lead sponsors We Are Weymouth and Weymouth Town council was another massive success despite Saturday’s dreadful weather and once again showed why it is ranked as the number 1 Beach Volleyball event in Great Britain.

The Womens title was won by Maria Sviridova and   Rastelli from Italy who defeated Mhairi Wallace and Lynne Beattie from Scotland  in a dramatic final 21-18, 21-19 . The Mens final was won by Jan-Joost van den Bogert and Cole Durant who defeated Matt Hunter and Zec Johnson from Canada  21-15, 21-18. Matt Hunter plays for the Weymouth National League Division One team and was the first ever Weymouth player to reach the final of the Classic.

The finals  on Sunday were played in front  of large crowds supporting their favourite teams around the purpose built Centre Court. However on Saturday the teams had to battle through heavy rain and wind on the beach but all matches were successfully completed which set up this excellent final day. The wind was the main threat to the event and at one point it nearly got to the strength  where play would have  had to be suspended but the players, referees and volunteers form Weymouth Volleyball Club persevered and got in all the scheduled matches.

Denise Austin from Croyde who has won the event 10 times reached the semi-final where she announced her retirement from the game. In an emotional announcement on Centre Court the England International  she described her Beach Volleyball career playing  all around the World but still her favourite place to play was here  in Weymouth.

The event was run by Weymouth Volleyball Club and supported by UK Beach Tour ( the National Body). Event Directors Graeme Sawyer and Pete Bennett were delighted that the event was such a success.

Pete Bennett said ‘ it was fantastic to have such good weather today which brought the crowds out to watch a festival of spectacular volleyball. Saturday’s was one of the wettest days in our 40 year history but everyone was determined to play through it and we actually finished a bit earlier than planned. In no small part this was a result of the fantastic volunteers we had from Weymouth Volleyball Club who  just kept going throughout the day although they must have been soaked. We also need to thank Weymouth Town Council and We are Weymouth for their fantastic support throughout the year’

Dawn Rondeau, Chief Operations officer for We Are Weymouth commented “It was incredible to watch these National championships in person, and an honour and privilege to present the medals and trophies to the finalists and winners, some of whom were local to Weymouth. How lovely to see the crowds out in force enjoying the sunshine and action on the courts, it truly is the ‘Wimbledon of the beach’. Weymouth is very lucky to be able to host these games, and We Are Weymouth is immensely proud to be sponsoring an event that has been held in Weymouth for the past 30+ years, what a superb legacy for the town.”

Andy Jones CEO of UKBT said’ Weymouth is always the top event on the calendar for us because it takes place in such a great location and the local club are such great a team of organisers, we have always known that Weymouth is the best location in Great Britain!’