Saturday was a beautiful day for Petanque!

Photographs by Bob Fordice, Howard Heflin, and Bob Mazelow

It’s been a beautiful summer of petanque, culminating in Saturday’s 2026 Food Bank Tournament, dedicated to supporting the work of the Edmonds Food Bank. Though Saturday started off in a downpour, the skies cleared as predicted, and Edmonds boulistes spent the day pointing and shooting under ideal conditions at the Edmonds Civic Playfield. 20 teams of mixed triples vied for the top prize. At the end of the day, La Singkeo, Ron Stires, and Melanie Milnes were crowned 2026 champions. Michael White, Saurabh Mehta, and Pamela Yang finished second. Joan Poor, Philippe Geraud, and Bill Laprade came in third. In the concluding pointing contest, Michael White and Wendy Chaffee were tied after regulation and needed to go to a tiebreaker in which Michael prevailed.

La Singkeo, Ron Stires, and Melanie Milnes sporting their gold medals as Food Bank champions in 2026

Saurabh, Michael, and Pam came second. Bill, Philippe, and Joan were a close third.

The day was marked by amazing play and good spirit all around. The sum of funds raised is still being tallied and will be posted soon. Special thanks to Tu Hoang, who contributed 20 new boule bags that were sold to benefit the Food Bank and to Michelle and Mike Martin, who again offered to host a six-person French dinner as a much-desired prize in the Silent Auction.

Ralph, Sharon, Ro and Lia all enjoyed the day….well perhaps not Lia quite as much!

Wendy enjoyed support from a family cheerleader. Howard took a rest from his work as photographer, and Lolli and Brien did what they do best, being themselves.

Leslye, as always, was helpful with the cochonnet. Tom must have just scored a brilliant point with that grin on his face. Les from Port Townsend weighed his options for the next toss.

Joan, Philippe, and Bill deliberated team strategy. Then, as always, Margaret and Philippe executed their shots with style!

All in all, it was an outstanding day for Edmonds Petanque. Special thanks to the many volunteers including Nancy Rockwell at the merchandise table and Arthur Sullivan who managed scoring and timing as a new member to the club. Many, many others pitched in throughout the day. Without the support of volunteers, events like this could not happen. THANK YOU, EVERYONE!!

Participants in The Edmonds Food Bank Tournament, 2026 Edition

Final Standings for the 2026 Edmonds Food Bank Tournament

FINAL RANK	TEAM #	PLAYER 1	PLAYER 2	PLAYER 3	PLAYER 4	TOTAL WINS	TOTAL DIFF	TOTAL POINTS
1	15	La Singkeo	Ron Stires	Melanie Milnes		5	22	57
2	14	Michael White	Saurabh Mehta	Pamela Yang		4	21	62
3	10	Joan Poor	Philippe Geraud	Bill Laprade		4	18	57
4	20	Barbara Phillips	Lester Phillips	Rhonda Lauth		4	10	53
5	4	Brian Francis	Larry Thomas	Joan Neuhaus		3	23	57
6	3	Keogh Singkeo	Wendy Chaffee	Tu Hoang		3	22	61
7	8	Lia Verdeja	Ro Verdeja	Jack McHenry	Jim Klein	3	17	48
8	2	Tom Delaney	Leslye Bergan	Ron LaRue		3	11	57
9	9	Jeanna Holtz	David Sundquist	Todd Johnson		3	11	51
10	11	Ken Cuprynski	Monte Underwood	Maggie Bassetti		3	-6	35
11	7	Thomas Nunn	David Steward	Sharon Reams		2	-3	44
12	18	Forest Hertlein	Neal Kusumoto	Audrey Rossman		2	-7	40
13	1	Margaret Evans	Ron Trompeter	Patrick Trompeter		2	-11	38
14	6	Jeri Lockhart	Doug Lockhart	Leon Louis-jeune	Paul Matsuoka	2	-12	43
15	5	David Rockwell	Brien Meilleur	Lolli Jacobsen	Bob Mazelow	2	-14	34
16	12	Jan Pruatt	Christine Hoyle	Gary Bigham		2	-18	37
17	16	Jerry Leising	Jared Leising	Casey Davis		1	-2	49
18	17	Sam Shanshory	Nancy Hertl	Eileen Nash		1	-10	36
19	13	Lyn Cleary	Sigrid Brende	Harry George		1	-25	30
20	19	Debi Wolla	Renee Raison	Sam Schuy	Dynee Colosimo	0	-47	17