Cumbrian hockey players have been involved in the World Masters Hockey European Cup in Germany.
One came back with gold, two came back with silver and the fourth got to umpire one of the main finals.
Andy Holden, of Ulverston, was playing for England over 80s and they played against Nederland, Germany and an Australia select team.
They were victorious in all of their games so were worthy winners of the gold medal.
Captain Keith Richardson (Carlisle) and vice captain Jeff Jackson (Windermere) played for England LX over 70s White (who had been seeded 8th out of 8).
In their first game, against a strong Australia select team, they lost 2-0 but down to two mistakes.
They then played Dragons (Wales select) and came out winners 5-0.
In the final pool game they came up against a strong Netherlands side and were victorious 2-0.
This put them into the quarter-finals against Alliance (World select) and in a hard fought match Whites came out on top 2-0 and set them up with a semi-final against their 1st team LX Red (seeded 1).
On the day of the semi-final, Whites goalkeeper took ill and had to be replaced by another member of the team which made the Red team even more confident of going through.
The Reds attacked from the start but were unable to break down the Whites.
Then Whites scored a breakaway goal to go in at half time 1-0 ahead.
The Cumbrian duo of Richardson and Jackson changed the Whites’ formation and this seemed to confused the Red team.
Amid the confusion Whites managed to score again and lead 2-0.
With another change of formation Whites hung on to win and earn a place in the final against the team that beat them in the first game – Australia Select.
On the day of the final, Whites were bolstered by the return of their goalkeeper and came out fighting from the start.
They managed to keep the score to 0-0 until the last five minutes when the Australians were awarded a dubious penalty stroke that they converted to lead 1-0.
The captain then took the bold move to take off the goalkeeper and bring on an extra player but due to one of Whites players being sent to the sin bin for five minutes the opposition scored a second goal and the game ended 2-0 to the Australian select side, Southern Cross.
Mark Kendrick (Windermere) was there as an umpire and was involved in various games throughout the tournament.
He was highly commended by many sides and that was why he was given semi-finals and one of the main finals to umpire.
