Date and Venue
We are happy to announce that the Welsh Open weekend will once again be held at Sand Bay Holiday park, Weston-Super-Mare on the 27th to the 31st of August 2026. This is a bank holiday weekend.
Cost
As we all know, the cost of everything is rising and we have been given a cost of £180 per person this year. However, we still feel that the cost of the room and with meals included, is still a good deal for our members.
Extra Event
This year the WDF changed the criteria for holding events. We can now announce that instead of the warmup singles on Thursday evening there will be a new WDF Bronze ranking event. This provides members with an additional chance to gain WDF ranking points during the weekend. Prize money for this event will be released shortly.
Information Flyer
The flyer for 2026 is being prepared and will be released as soon as possible. This year we will not be providing printed copies but will be sending out electronic copies. This will also be made available on our social media and website.
Welsh Intercounty Championship
Following many discussions this year around the Welsh Intercounty Championships, in November we asked all counties to discuss 2 options with their members and to provide us with their feedback.
OPTION ONE
To continue with the Championship being held on Saturday Morning/Afternoon during the Welsh Open weekend, under the same terms as in previous years. All Players and Officials participating in the Championships (Men: 15 minimum/20 maximum, and Women: 7 minimum/10 maximum) are expected to be resident at the venue staging the Welsh Open weekend for the entire duration of the weekend, which would give their members the opportunity to support other WDO events.
OPTION TWO
To hold the Championships as a separate event on one day under the same format at another venue, the approximate time required to stage the tournament will be 8 hours. Please indicate Saturday or Sunday is your preference if you favour this option.
The result of the discussions was a 5 – 1 decision in favour of option1 with 1 county not giving an opinion.
With this in mind, we have confirmed that the WICC for 2026 will take place during the weekend of the Welsh Open. This also means that the current contract conditions of members must be resident on site during the weekend will still be in place.
In order to assist members with the costs of attending the weekend, we have taken the decision to increase the prize fund for the WICC. The £4 per point earned will now be doubled to £8.
Present Men's = Place Money £245.00 + Points £1260.00 = £1,505.00
Proposed New Men's = £ Place Money £245.00 + Points £3,010.00 = £3.255.00
Present Women Place Money £200.00 + Points £588.00 = £788.00
Proposed New Women' = Place Money £200.00 + £1,176.00 = £1,376.00.
Total Prize Money increase = £1848.00.
How this is shared with the members who attend is down to the individual counties.
Due to the problems caused on DartConnect, by teams with less than the required number of players, this year teams will not be permitted to enter if they do not have a minimum of 15 men and 7 women.
This also caused issues with required number of markers for boards. We have announced the date earlier this year which will give members over 8 months to plan for the weekend.
Booking
We are waiting for the discount code and the booking system to be provided by Sand Bay and as soon as we have these, we will distribute it to the county representatives. We remind you that the fine for not supplying a team for the WICC stands at £250 per team (i.e £250 for mens team and £250 for ladies team totalling £500 for both not attending).
We hope that your members will support this weekend and we look forward to a successful championship.
