By Roger Robson

Two of the night's key performers - Andrew Carlile and Richard Fox

Waberthwaite held an open night and played host to wrestlers from the three other Cumbrian clubs - Carlisle, Kendal, and Milnthorpe.

Meanwhile Carlisle had one last training night for the youngsters before bringing down the curtain with the last of four Senior Points competitions.

As the 11.5 stones action began, Matthew Fisher and Andrew Carlile stood level in the lead on eight points each, but neither of them won.

Instead John Harrington managed to weigh in this time and went through the round-robin without losing a fall.

Yet it was not enough to win the trophy for accumulated points throughout the winter, which went to a key member of the club's coaching team, Andrew Carlile.

The 13 stones had a purple passage at one point when four bouts in succession brought out the best skills of the wrestlers concerned.

Richard Fox bided his time as Matthew Fisher kicked and thrashed in mid air and then flicked him up and over with another inside-hipe Roger Robson

Richard Fox swung and swung again with John Harrington until he was dizzy enough to be felled with an inside-click while trying to land safely.

Harrington feinted to take Joe Thompson away on a swing, but instead went the other way and caught him with an outside-stroke.

Andrew Carlile sent Craig Naylor high, wide and handsome with an inside-hipe.

While Richard Fox bided his time as Matthew Fisher kicked and thrashed in mid-air and then flicked him up and over with another inside-hipe.

Fox was unbeaten and was rewarded with the 13st Points Trophy for the whole indoor series.

An added unknown in the form of the powerful but inexperienced Gordon Nichol was the extra ingredient in the All Weights.

He survived an excellent back-heeling attack from Andrew Carlile before twisting to win, and when there had to be a wrestle-off for third and fourth place, he repeated his feat.

With three out of three wins already in the pocket, Richard Fox could not be headed, but on the night he was beaten by his old rival and friend, John Harrington.

The Waberthwaite Open Night deserved a much bigger following than it got.

Visiting academies played a major part with Kendal, Carlisle and Milnthorpe providing a dozen wrestlers who played an important role throughout the night.

The star of the show was 14-year-old Joe Thompson, who did not do so well in his own category, but then got his footing and dispatched some good wrestlers, on his way to winning the 13 stones and the BNFL trophy, and then wrestling up to Stuart Mason in the All Weights final.