Come and Play Petanque!

Lerida Estate recently constructed a major Petanque facility on the Federal Highway at Lake George with 26 international standard pistes, designed by Canberra-based landscape architect and golf course expert, Jamie Dawson of Enviro Links. On 30 September 2007, Lerida hosted its first major tournament; a doubles competition for a perpetual trophy. More than 150 players from 3 States and overseas participated, including some world-class professionals.

If you want to find out why Petanque, normally associated with sleepy village squares on a warm Sunday afternoon, is one of the fastest growing participant sports in the world, take a trip to the Collector end of Lake George and see what it is all about .

Disabled Suffer No Disadvantage

Petanque is distinct from its many related games, bocce (Italy), bolas (Spain), klootschieten (Holland), kubb (Sweden), lawn bowls (England) etc, being specifically designed to allow the wheelchair bound to compete on equal terms with the more mobile. The name derives from the Provencal term pés tanqées, in English, stuck feet, as the game requires the player to throw with their feet together inside a 25 cm circle.

The conventional form of Petanque is one of the few completely inclusive outdoor games, allowing people of all ages and degrees of mobility to play together in a game that can be a simple recreation or an international World Cup standard event.

Even in the gentle form to be played at Lerida, the game can be very thrilling, appealing to the fiercely competitive as well as the more contemplative. Enthusiasts can spend more than $150 each on specialised boules made of exotic alloys, designed to shoot opponents’ equipment out of play. However, for the hundreds of millions of backyard players around the world (17 million in France alone) equipment can cost as little a $13 for a set of steel balls, a jack and a measuring string. Most sports warehouses carry cheap sets.

Generally tournaments at Lerida Estate are open to all classes of equipment. Occasionally however, more specialised gear for official tournaments will be required. Participants will be advised beforehand if this is the case.

Environmentally Friendly

The maintenance of golf courses, ovals and lawn bowling greens requires thousands of litres of water, fertilizer and fossil fuel powered equipment. There is no such requirement with Petanque, which may be played on any level surface.

The requirements for recognition as an international standard venue have lead Lerida to seek out the special fine gravel seen in French village market squares or the increasingly common indoor arenas, known as Boulodromes.

The whole complex will eventually be landscaped extensively with picnic facilities and local plants selected for their hardiness and low water needs. It will be available for all forms of boules, including bocce and bolas, also popular in Australia.

Local club competitions are now held on the last Saturday of each month at Lerida Estate.

For further information please contact:
Jim Lumbers Ph: 0419 246 149 or 6295 6640
Email: wine@leridaestate.com

or visit the Capital Petanque website: www.capitalpetanque.com