Laibons too good for Old Cambrians in derby

Lenana School are the winners of the ninth edition of the annual Laibon Society Charity Golf Day tournament held at the par 72 Karen Golf and Country Club in Nairobi on Friday.

The champions, commonly referred to as the Laibons, beat old perennial rivals Nairobi School, fondly called the Old Cambrians, by 44 points to lift their seventh Shield in the fiercely contested championships.

The Laibons fired a total of 680 points on the pristine course as the Old Cambrians returned 636.

The total points was based on the best scores of top 20 players from each side.

The Laibons still reigned supreme in the top 10 best scores, carding 386 points against 338 fired by the Old Cambrians.

The victory saw Laibons arguably stretch their lead to 7-2 this year.

"The two sides are set to clash in the playoffs later in the year," Laibon captain Paul Ichangi said.

At the same time, Simon Mwatha, who combed the fairways to realise 44 stableford points, was the top placed Laibon player in the tournament. The aim of the tournament was to raise Sh1.5 million to educate bright but needy students.

"This year we formalised the establishment of the endowment fund which will be supported by the proceeds from the golf contest," Ichangi said.

Geoffrey Warukira emerged Laibon runners up on 42 points.

Best placed Old Cambrian was Lawrence Kinyanjui who won the category on 38, beating Chris Mwenda by a point.

Apart from the old boys from the Kenya's two old and top public schools, the tournament was also open to the corporates and alumni from various schools across the country.

Alliance High School batch of Ndiga Kithae, Mbuvi Ngunze, Tony Cege and Francis Tuiyott emerged the best alumni men's team on 140 points.

Alliance Girls quartet of Jane Sitonik, Betty Maina, Jane Mwangi and Joyce Wafula was the best alumni ladies team on 125 points.

Martha Mbote proved best among the ladies on 38 points ahead of Sitonik (36 points).

The best gross category went to Robert Nyanchoga who fired 72 gross, while the senior citizen category was won by Wachira Mahihu on 34.

The battle of the first nine and the back nine was scooped by Raphael Lekolool (24 points) and Njenga Kimani (23) in that order.

Ichangi proved himself as the longest drive men guru on the greens as Mary Chebukati won the category on the ladies' side.

Nearest to the pin contest went to Evans Vitisia as Mbote who won the men and women's categories in that order.

Best effort or 'Piga Mingi' went to Ian Amogola on 16, who pledged to up his game to make a mark in the next edition.

The winners were feted on Friday night with broad range of prizes in a colourful dinner at the venue.

The competition that attracted over 200 players was sponsored by the Standard Group PLC among other corporates.

Apart from revisiting their adrenaline pump up old school rivalry, Lenana School (formerly Duke of York) and Nairobi School (formerly Prince of Wales) old students used the charity event to raise money for the endowment funds.

Other projects so far build by the funds raised from the tournament include a swimming pool and changing rooms at the Lenana School.

The Laibons and the Old Cambrians make up over 12,000 former students who enjoys the sibling rivalry between the two schools from as far back as 1949 when the Duke of York School was spawned out of the Prince of Wales
School.