Beach Volleyball Ireland Tour 2012

The Beach Volleyball Ireland Tour has drawn to a close for 2012, after 10 tournaments spread over 3 months

This season saw over 80 competitors, embracing themselves in all sorts of weather, compete for accolades at the various locations holding single sex and mixed competitions. Thanks to an improved cross border relationship with our Northern counterparts on the NIVB Tour, this year saw an increase in participation and a tougher competitive draw for all.

Some of the regular places were back in action to hold competitions, including Portmarnock, Co. Dublin, Inchidonney, Co. Cork and Woodstown, Co. Waterford. New locations were added to the calendar to spread the gospel of beach volleyball, including the first sponsored events, held at the Sea sessions Music festival in Bundoran, Co. Donegal which held a record number of entries, and the introduction of Cup and Plate sections to the tournaments.

In the Men’s section, 2011 winners, Andrew Goti and Janush Stolarek, proved once again to be Kings of The Beach by winning all single sex tournaments counting towards the overall leaderboard. Their closest challengers to the title this year were Benny O’Regan and Johnny Whitty., 2nd placed last year. Despite been beaten in the early stages of competitions in Waterford and Dublin, the double elimination (where a team would have to lose twice before being knocked out) allowed Goti and Stolarek to regroup and come through the bottom half of the draw to beat all those in their way. When it came to the final, their early shock was always the wake up call they needed as they overpowered O’Regan and Whitty when it mattered most. The pairing of Adrian Margol and Marcin Szklarek from Poland came close to reaching finals but could not outwit the top two pairings in the country. However, they will be satisfied with improved performances and placings from last year with 3rd on the leaderboard.

The highest ranked men this summer (L to R) Adrian Margol, Andrew Goti, Marcin Szklarek, Benny O’Regan, Janush Stolarek, Jonathan Whitty, and Tomasz Ochocki

In the Women’s section, Lina Klimkeviciute from Lithuania showed her class that she is one step ahead of the rest of her competitors by claiming the women title in emphatic fashion. After taking a year out to travel the world, the 2010 champion won two events with her regular partner Katerina Mrackova, torturing all competitors that stood in their way. Her only loss came in the final event in Waterford where she, and partner Ernesta Gruzdaite, were beaten by Marie Claire Sabogal and Reika Deim. Despite that loss, she had accumulated enough points to be crowned Queen of the Beach, ahead of her nearest challengers, Ivette Simon-Byrne and newcomer to the beach Edyta McMullan. Mrackova ended up 3rd overall.

Sergej Rodin with the leading women from this season; Lina Klimkeviciute, Ivette Simon Byrne, Miriam Gormally, Kim Zanthoff, and Erin Madden

In the mixed section, the spoils were shared as Patrycia Frach, Goti, and Whitty topped the table with the same amount of points after tournaments in Bundoran and Inchidonney. Many thanks to all the players who took part over the summer, both from North and South, and to the Beach Commission in collaborating on very successfully run events. Roll on 2013!!!!

-Benny O’Regan

Circuit Placings 2012

Below are the Circuit Placings for the Current Beach Circuit

Women

Men

Pos. Player Pts. 1 Lina Klimkeviciute 290 2 Edyta Jozwiak McMullan 215 = Ivett Simon 215 4 Katerina Mrackova 200 5 Iwona Apanowicz 190 = Kamila Stasiewicz 190 = Reika Deim 190 8 Patrycja Frach 180 9 Asia Straszynska 160 10 Miriam Gormally 150 11 Ernesta Gruzdaite 145 12 Kasia Sarnicka 120 13 Blanka Maruszewska 110 14 Marie Claire Sabogal 100 15 Jana Langford 95 16 Leanne Dignam 90 17 Annette Farrugia 80 = Gwladys Beaugeard 80 19 Megan Burgdorf 70 20 Anna Kucharyk 60 21 Marta Atrachinnowicz 55 = Renata Sarnicka 55 = Svetlana Kondratjeva 55 = Indre Fimkuti 55 = Egli Fimaityti 55 26 Karolina Tokarska 50 = Dana Poloniova 50 28 Giedre Guobyte 40 = Zydre Guobyte 40 30 Mamen Jimenez 30 = Susana Lopez 30 = Daria Sep 30 33 Izabela Lubczynska 25 = Urszula Korcz 25 35 Kim Zanthoff 15 = Margaret Fischer 15 = Miriam Schnieder 15

Pos. Player Pts. 1 Andrew Goti 300 = Janusz Stolarek 300 3 Benny O’Regan 260 = Johnny Whitty 260 5 Adrian Margol 190 = Marcin Szklarek 190 7 Daniel Apanowicz 165 8 Radu Vescu 145 = Sergej Rodin 145 10 Tomasz Ochocki 110 11 Alan McKnight 80 = Jonathan Workman 80 13 Miroslav Voisnis 70 = Pawel Iwinski 70 = Michal Gawlowski 70 16 Daniel M. Bessa 55 = Dmitrijs Cerednicenko 55 = Linx Govender 55 = Lukasz Natkowski 55 = Piotr Lachowski 55 = Robert Wypiorczyk 55 = Yan R. Ferreira 55 = Remis 55 = Finbarr O’Leary 55 = Graham Torrance 55 = Alex Romanov 55 27 Florian Stefanov 40 = Lukasz Czerwinski 40 = Peter Stancka 40 30 Adrian Martinez 30 = Gerard Conway 30 = Matthew Hodgkinson 30 = Pedro Rodrigues 30 = Piotr Jakubowski 30 35 Alvaro Martinez 25 = Bernard Bazcek 25 = Miguel Polo 25 = Rafal Bazcek 25

Mixed

Pos. Player Pts. 1 Patrycja Frach 180 = Andrew Goti 180 = Johnny Whitty 180 2 Ivett Simon 170 3 Janusz Stolarek 155 = Miriam Gormally 155