Following a nationwide tournament in which amateur darts players attempted to complete a timed ‘around the clock’ challenge, 11 finalists emerged to compete in the Grand Final on Friday 28 March. Nile ‘Hotshot’ Gott from Darlington took the title, the cup, and a £5,000 cash prize. Marston’s teamed up with Darts World No. 1 ‘Cool Hand Luke’ Humphries on the Cool Hand Cup, which saw locals from 700 pubs across the UK step up to compete.
Hosted at Marston’s pub The White Hart in Ashby, 2 finalists from the North East, North West, West Midlands, East, South and 1 from Wales competed in a series of quarter final and play-off matches to determine who took home the cup and had the once-in-a-lifetime chance to play 2024 World Matchplay Champion and the reigning Players Championship Final Champion, Luke Humphries.
Dave ‘The One And Only’ Openshaw from Bangor, Matt ‘Toystory’ Woodward from Stoke on Trent, James ‘Jambo’ Walton from Hull and Matt ‘Rocket’ Stevenson from Belper, had the four fastest times after completing the challenge in their local pubs, so automatically proceeded to the quarter finals.
The remaining eight finalists James Raine from Gloucester, Nile ‘Hotshot’ Gott from Darlington, Steven Harrison from Nuneaton, Lucas Briggs from Rugeley, Stu ‘Robo’ Robinson from Dudley, Danny ‘The Pearl’ Searle from Portsmouth and Bradley ‘The Torpedo’ Moorhead from Stoke on Trent, battled it out in a series of play-off matches.
Nile ‘Hotshot’ Gott from Darlington was crowned the overall winner, taking home £5,000 in cash, £180 Marston’s Love My Local gift card, a set of Luke Humphries Red Dragon darts and of course, the Cool Hand Cup trophy. He also had the opportunity to play Luke Humphries in the best of five legs in traditional 501 darts in the final game of the night.
In the final, Nile secured a time of 1:40.55, narrowly beating Matt ‘Rocket’ Stevenson, who completed the challenge in 1:42.11.
Nile ‘Hotshot’ Gott, winner of the Cool Hand Cup, said “Winning the Cool Hand Cup feels absolutely spectacular. I never pictured winning on the train ride here. The competition was surreal and seeing Luke Humphries, the World No. 1, in person was an amazing feeling.
All of the players have a lot of talent and showed great action, precision and accuracy. We’re the best 11 players out of thousands across the UK, so any one of us could have won it and we all equally deserved to.
The competition is a huge night for pub darts and hopefully, it encourages more people to play at their local.”
None of the finalists went home empty-handed, as 2nd place Matt ‘Rocket’ Stevenson, from Belper, received a £150 Marston’s gift card, 3rd place, James ‘Jambo’ Walton from Hull, received a £100 Marston’s gift card, and all finalists received a set of Luke Humphries Red Dragon darts.
Neil Campbell, Chief Operating Officer at Marston’s, said: “We’ve loved watching punters up and down the country get involved in the Cool Hand Cup and it was a pleasure to host the 11 finalists in Ashby for the Grand Final. The atmosphere was fantastic, with a very exciting final match to finish off proceedings. On behalf of Marston’s, I’d like to offer huge congratulations to all our finalists and of course to Nile ‘Hotshot’ Gott.”
