The first ever Christmas in the Crater event was held by Mount Gambier Disc Golf and the two days of action brought plenty of festive cheer the Valley Lakes.

Following on from the successful Eruption event held last month, Mount Gambier Disc Golf created Christmas in the Crater for players of all abilities and almost 40 players turned out.

The event arranged by organising débutante Curtis King kicked off on Saturday with action on the long course, while Sunday’s proceedings coincided with the December League Day held on the shorter course.

Mount Gambier Disc Golf Christmas in the Crater assistant tournament director Ryan Nicholson said it created a great vibe around the Crater Lakes course.

“There was a good fun social atmosphere with just shy of 40 players turning out,” he said.

“The social side of things was really good because everyone stuck together and everyone had a lot of high spirits.

“We had lot of laughs while still competing in a highly competitive event.”

The Mount Gambier weather was in typical form showcasing all four seasons across the two days of action to make life challenging for players.

Competitors first graced the course with gorgeous conditions to enjoy on Saturday until the rain and wind gusts of 40-50kph arrived on Sunday morning.

Despite the demanding conditions the players braved the elements and scores were tight across the divisions, while there was a lot on the line with Australian Disc Golf Championship point up for grabs.

The MPO division grade was particularly close with only three shots separating the players.

Tim Bohan eventually prevailed after recording -6, one shot ahead of runner-up Gareth Morgan, while Alex Costales overcame Matthew Noblet on a count-back for third.

The Advanced grade was controlled by Sam Caon, who ended up five shots under Tom Lee, while Sarah Lee won Advanced Women.

It was a thrilling finish in the Amateur Masters competition with Justin Clarke and Daniel Hartley battling for glory.

The pair both finished square to the card and a count-back was required to decide the winner.

Despite Harley enjoying a fast finish, Clarke received the winner’s trophy.

Carey Edwards dominated the Amateur Masters event, while the respective men’s and women’s Novice winners were Joshua Partington and Ceecee Britten-Jones.

Austin and Jessica Holman are both youngsters fighting for national championships glory and continued their strong form winning both junior grades.

The Intermediate grade was stunned by Michael Gliese, who blitzed the course with an impressive score of -9.

Gliese finished the first round as joint leader with Daryl Pearson, but pulled away in the second round where he needed just 53 shots to open up a six-shot lead to win.

He backed it up with another fine performance 24 hours later to win the men’s league day event after a close battle.

Gilese finished two shot ahead of a three-way tie for second between Sam Caon, Alex Britten-Jones and Bohan.

On Handicap results Britten-Jones (38.7) prevailed over Gilese (40.4) while Sarah Lee secured a comfortable women’s title, nine shots ahead of Kate Eldridge.

The Juniors were dominated by the Holmans with Austin beating Jessica.

Nicholson said Gilese was the standout player from the weekend.

“He had a cracking weekend with an -8 round on the Sunday,” he said.

“He is an Intermediate player in the MA2 division and outscored every other player including the four professionals.

“That round was extremely highly rated and was ran away with an overall six-shot win.”

Before the weekend four individuals were in the middle of an exciting race for national glory.

With the Australian Disc Golf Tour wrapping up at the end of the year, Christmas in the Crater was the last chance for players to collect points for national glory.

Blue Lake juniors Jessica (Under 15 women) and Austin Holman (Under 15) are in the box seat for national glory, while local Amy Weyers sat six points shy of Adelaide’s Anna Kolodina.

Nicholson said a nervous wait until the new year was ahead as players hope no one jumps them in another event somewhere around the country.

“It does appear both the Holmans have won their division and look pretty set,” he said.

“There may be a couple of events that are not accounted for yet, but I would say they are pretty well secured tour victories.

“But I can’t say it is a definite yet until all the results have come in from the rest of the country.

“We were all anticipating the competition between Amy Weyers and Anna Kolodina to see if one of them could get a win and lock in the tour championship.

“But Ceecee Britten-Jones came through and trumped them both to take the win.

“Amy finished second, but only three shot ahead of Anna, so we are all waiting in anticipation if that was enough to get her over the line.

“It is still undecided where it is going to fall.”

The next Mount Gambier Disc Golf event will be a Random Format Day which will be a twilight round on Wednesday, January 5.

The round will be one players will not want to miss with two national championships being held next year.