Now that the 2023/24 Winter League season is over (apart from Play-Offs!), we take a look at the key statistics and who the big winners were:
<b>Most Tons By Team</b>
Once again Section One teams lead the way by most Tons. Top of the shop was Bogey Flickers with 188 tons in their 16 games, an increase from 151 last Summer League. Halway Mixed were just seven tons behind, hitting 181 over the course of the season with Wanderers third with 176 and Total Confusion with 142.
In fifth place are Windy Hill Bullys, the first non-Section One team we come across, who 126 tons in their 16 league games. And Section Four side The Con Artists are just behind in sixth having hit 121 tons.
Section Two's Beechwood Cavaliers are seventh with 112 tons, Bully Dogs were ninth with 110 tons, and the top ten is rounded off by Section Three team The Willies with 109 tons.
Just two more teams had over 100 tons, these being Queen of Hearts (105) and Flying Bullets (101). The only section we haven't covered is Section Five who only played 14 games in the season. Legacy Darts led the way in this section with 75 tons.
<b>Most Tons By Person</b>
In total this season, 442 different people hit tons in the Runcorn Darts League, just less than last Summer's total of 450. 377 of them hit multiple tons, again just less than last Summer's total of 385. We will look at the best in each section and also the top ten of who hit the most tons in the season.
The best Section Five player by tons was Scott Greenwood from Legacy Darts with 19 during the season, with teammate Mike Bishton hitting 17 and Joseph Orme from The A Team hitting 13. Remember Section Five teams play less league games than any other Section. In Section Four, The Con Artists' Tom Billington led the way with 31 tons, with teammate Harry Preidt second with 26 tons. Michael Jackson from Halfway Bar hit 24 tons.
In Section Three, Ryan McDonald from Windy Hill Bullys and Chris Hough from The Willies both hit 31 tons, with Tony Smith from The Woodchuckers hitting 25 tons. In Section Two, David Foulkes from Beechwood Cavaliers led the way with 33 tons, with Doo Waps' Fran Reilly hitting 25 tons and Ste Shackelton from Queen of Hearts with 24 tons.
Its no surprise that many of the top ten come from Section One although some of the above did make the top ten in the league. In 10th place overall was Dave Harrison from Total Confusion with 30 tons, with four players hitting 31 tons. We've mentioned Tom Billington, Chris Hough and Ryan McDonald, but joining them on 31 tons was Josh Bury from Wanderers.
Dave Foulkes was in fifth place, with Phil Taylor from Clarry B in fourth having hit 35 tons. Just above him was Ben Webster from Bogey Flickers with 36 tons, whilst Ste Roberts hit 44 tons to claim second place. The most tons this season though came from Halfway Mixed player Chris Clarke who hit 45 tons.
<b>Most Maximums</b>
47 different players hit maximums in the 2023/24 Winter League, just down from 52 last summer, with 11 different people hitting multiple maximums. Eight of these hit two, these being Brad Alan Magee from Total Confusion, Billy Blackmore from Has Beens, Gaz Holmes from Bogey Flickers, Logan Keogh from Windy Hill Bullys, Paul Lawson from Clarry Tats, Rob Gatcliffe from Total Confusion, Ste Roberts from Wanderers and Ste Whitfield from The Woodchuckers.
Out front though is three players who hit three maximums this season. These were Phil Taylor from Clarry B and the Halfway Mixed duo of Chris Clarke and Sean Bell. Well done to all three players.
<b>Highest Checkout</b>
There were a total of 42 ton plus finishes in the 2023/24 Winter League, well up from the 34 there was last Summer. These were the five best.
Tom Billington from The Con Artists took out a 120 finish, with Logan Keogh from Windy Hill Bullys and Brad Walker from Bogey Flickers both taking out a 125.
Second best was Mark Bazley from Beechwood Cavaliers who hit a 144 finish, but best of the lot was Jordan Davies from Bully Dogs who took out a 161, eclipsing the 160 we saw twice last Summer.
<b>Quickest Game</b>
We class quick games as under 20 darts in the Runcorn Darts League, and there were 102 of these in the 2023/24 Winter League, just up from 98 such games last summer.
Firstly in doubles, congratulations to Ste Roberts and Dean Smith from Wanderers who managed to win in just 15 darts including a 110 finish! This is no mean feat considering its a double to start!
Onto singles, and ten players won in 15 darts this season, up from just four last season! Three players won in 14 darts, these being Trevor Phillips from Northern Bar, whose leg included a 140, 126 and 100, Rob Williams from Bogey Flickers who hit 140, 123 and 121 in his game, and Luke Littler from Bogey Flickers, his 14 dart game including a 180, 124 and 100.
Out front though is two players who hit 12 dart legs this season. One was from Phil Taylor from Clarry B who hit TWO 180's in his leg. The other was from Marc Jones from Bully Dogs who hit 180, 140, 85 and a 116 finish! Well done Phil and Marc!
<b>Best League Record In Doubles</b>
Doubles is always difficult with captains often changing partnerships over the season. We therefore look at individual records in doubles games as opposed to the pairings themselves.
33 players were unbeaten this season in doubles, although a whopping 24 of them only played once! The two players with the best record were Ste Jones from Northern Flytes who won all eight of his doubles games, and Shaun Bate from Halfway to the Fids who won all six of his.
We do though need to give a shout out to Peter Langton of Queen of Hearts. He was paired with seven different players this season, yet won 12 of his 13 doubles games!
There were just 19 players who played in every singles doubles game that they could this season (14 Section Five, 16 all other Sections)
<b>Best League Record In Singles</b>
27 players were unbeaten this season in singles, down from 36 last Summer, with 12 of those playing more than once. The best overall league record was from Ryan McDonald from Windy Hill Bullys who won all 14 games he played. Tom Billington from The Con Artists won all 12 of his games, with Tom Searson from Blue Oyster Bar winning all 11 he played.
Also with 100% record was Mark Howcroft of Beechwood Cavaliers with 9 out of 9, and Graham Weaver from The Con Artists / Dan Goodall from Legacy Darts with 8 of of 8.
Going close to 100% was Logan Keogh of Windy Hill Bullys and Scott Greenwood of Legacy Darts who both won 13 out of 14. Chris Hough from The Willies and Rob Gatcliffe from Total Confusion both won 11 out of 12, Brad Walker from Bogey Flickers winning 9 out of 10.
Ste Roberts from Wanderers won 14 of his 16 games, meaning he played in every singles match he could this season. He was one of only 15 players to play in every singles game possible this season.