GBHL Top Prizes Race Enters Final Quarter + 2026 Players Survey Nears Deadline

The fight for the GBHL’s top prizes has reached the sharp end of the season, with the final run of events now set to decide who finishes on the regional and national podiums, who claims the painting honours, and who falls just short after months of events.

At the same time, players have only a few days left to complete the GBHL players survey 2026, making this a busy moment both on and off the table. The closing events will shape this year’s rankings, while the survey will help guide the league’s plans for next season and beyond.

The final quarter gives every result extra weight

The last part of a league season always feels different. Early events build momentum. Mid-season events sort the field and establishes the runners and riders for the year. The final quarter decides whether that work turns into prizes.

For players in contention, the margin for error is now much smaller. A strong set of result can protect a lead or shoot someone into contention, as Will Champion famously came from nowhere to win back to back events and claim the 2022 League title.

That pressure applies across more than the very top of the standings. The GBHL top prizes often create several races at once, from the National and Regional Leagues, to the best painted race and even for some to break their own attendance record (Chris Ryder is going for 50 GBHL events in 1 year last I heard!). We also have the new team division which will see hearts broken and childhood dreams achieved (I imagine this is what all players spent their nights thinking about as children) as teams face promotions and demotions for the first time.

David Farmer still out in front but the chasing pack has closed the gap

For a large part of the first half of the season it had looked like defending champion David Farmer was going to cruise to back to back titles. With his closest challenger from last season Jakub Krochmal stumbling out of the blocks (by his own lofty standards) at the start of the year and Jakub opting to retreat and compete in clearly easier and less competitive events in Poland, the path seemed clear for David after a string of early wins and podiums. However a new power has been rising, and it bears the name Tom. Following in a long lineage of top performing Tom's (bonus point for anyone who can name all the Toms to win a GBHL 100 event!), Tom McConnell has overcome adversity and injury to win 3 GBHL 100 events and close the gap significantly on David meaning that 1 good result could give Tom the lead and knock David of his perch.

Tom McConnell isn't the only Tom who is making waves in the National Rankings with Tom Seccombe currently in a battle for 3rd place with a resurgent Stephen Denbigh who after a barren 8 month podium run stuck back with back to back GBHL 100 wins.

Small margins can carry a lot of weight late in the season.

Regional leagues

It's not all about the National league though, there are also the Regional leagues to look at. To help me out with the details our regional reps have given us a run down on what's happening in their areas:

Northern England

All to play for still in the North with many still in contention to win the region come year end.

Mr Swallow currently leads following three impressive GBHL90 wins in the first half of the year with his beloved Reclamation of Osgiliath. Jonathan accounts for half of all the GBHL podiums that this list has this edition, a true pioneer of this list that has now won the world championship just a few weeks ago.

Hot on his tail is Richard Calladine who achieved a GBHL90 podium with Fiefdoms, their first GBHL podium in fact. Known for his undying love of King Elessar & his ‘feared by the local community’ Minas Tirith dice.

Knocked off his perch at the top recently by the boys above is Adam Bird, last year’s regional winner hoping to claim some glory later in the year to reclaim top spot using his selection of off-meta armies. Can he soar back to the summit?

Outside of the top 3, there are 4 tightly packed that still hold an outside shot at winning the region. An incredible performance with Carn Dum at a GBHL100 at the beginning of the season has Bethany Taylor with the single highest individual score of anyone in the Northern rankings. Shen Barnes follows her up with a GBHL90 win & other characteristically strong performances across the year so far. Jack the scourge of the North East continues to farm his brethren for GBHL points in the ‘Real North’ with his interesting take on Army of the Great Eye at low points. Last but not least we have Tom Marsh running everyone down in the rankings & on the tabletop with his beloved Camels of Mahud. Known for his low might lists that he somehow makes work. Easy to win if you kill your opponent in the move phase. Just get good.

With results from Ardacon and the Steel City Open in September to come among a host of GBHL 90 events it is still all to play for. This is looking to be a fantastic close to the season in the Northern Rankings, who do you think will claim the title of King in the North? 

Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland

In the Scotland/NI/ROI region there is a runaway leader. Connor Kerr, always a consistent player, is having his best season so far and sits top of the region after two second places at GBHL100’s and a GBHL90 victory. He has now exceeded the magic number of 360 points meaning that anyone who hopes to catch him will need at least one of their scores to be from a GBHL100 and with only one of them to go (plus the GBHL Finale) that puts him in a strong position.

In second we have a new name in Ben Fitzpatrick who has picked up some great results at NI/ROI events including a podium at the recent GBHL100 Nirnaeth Arnoediad. Ben is a bit behind Connor but only marginally ahead of the chasing pack including Mark O’Brien who has just moved back to the region and made a good impression with a couple of GBHL90 wins.

Rounding out the other challengers are David Reid, Regional Rep and the most experienced player in the mix who already has a GBHL100 win under his belt but is TO’ing the next one. Iain McGregor, who has the most regional podiums of anyone and just won the GBHL90 Point of Might. Last years winner Finlay Irvine Staniforth is not far away, as is last year’s third place Andrew Stone and there’s potential first time podium places for Marty Sanderson, Andrew Laurenson and Alex Neaves all just one big result away from finding themselves in 2nd or 3rd.

With a busy August only half way gone and lots of events still to come it’s shaping up to be an exciting season and there’s still enough events to go for others not mentioned to make a challenge.

South East

The South East podium is hotting up! Leading the charge (as is traditional!) is the omnipresent Tom Seccombe. Big results at City of Kings and the Wolf's Lair, alongside the also-traditional GBHL90 win have propelled him to the top spot, with room to improve at Lemon Cup (tickets available!) and Bertacon (tickets on sale Friday 28th August).

In hot pursuit are Josh Sherman and former teammate Martin Seed. Both these chaps had big runs at the pair of 100s (big congratulations to Martin on his first GBHL100 podium!), and are regular threats on the circuit. Mr Seed still has a 53pt score dangling, so a big GBHL100 run (at Bertacon, baby!) could even see him threaten Mr Seccombe.

Future threats are abound though! Through some bizarre, twisted dark magic (Men of the West), Eliott Shillinglaw won a GBHL100 and is now going full steam ahead at every 90 he can get to. Can he get the scores he needs? Who knows!

Evert Outen and Olly Jackson have both picked up wins in the region, alongside Ed Langley who's in a precarious spot following his near miss at City of Kings.

Finally, Bert Leach (of #Bertacon fame) has got a win and a podium at 90s in the region. Can he make it to Lemon Cup? Will hosting #Bertacon hold him back? (Can you tell Bert is the regional rep?)

South West

The current standings in the Southwest GBHL region are beginning to take shape, with Jamie Wiggans, Ryan Beattie and Chris Ryder currently occupying the top three positions.

With the season progressing, the battle for the top spots is becoming increasingly competitive, but there are still several players capable of making a serious push up the rankings.

Hot on the heels of the current top three are Stephen Denbigh and David Farmer, both of whom have posted some big scores in the region.

Stephen, in particular, has already made a major statement by winning a GBHL 100, giving him a significant result to build on as the season continues. A result of that magnitude could prove crucial when the final standings are decided.

David Farmer is also firmly in the mix, with strong scores keeping him within touching distance of the leaders.

For Jamie Wiggans, Ryan Beattie and Chris Ryder, the challenge now is to maintain their momentum and put further distance between themselves and the chasing pack. With several big results still to come, however, nothing is guaranteed.

The Southwest region is shaping up to be a fascinating contest. The current top three may hold the advantage, but with players such as Stephen Denbigh and David Farmer producing major scores, the standings could change dramatically over the remainder of the season.

One thing is certain: the race for the Southwest GBHL crown is far from over.

Central

In the heart of the nation there currently England international Connor is leading the way, with a healthy leady on the competition having scored well at The 7th City GP and Lord of the West Midlands earlier in the year. This means Connor is the only player boasting the only score above 90 in the region also means those trailing in his wake.

Niall Corrigan and Sam Roper are holding onto the remaining podiums spots, but there is plenty of room for them to improve their scores, with 1 good result able to close that gap to the top. Not that the podiums spots are wrapped up either with both Niall and Sam at risk from Ash Rhodes who is only 1 good result himself from launching his own claim to a podium finish.

With plenty of points still to play for in the region though and enough events remaining, including Lord of the the Imps, someone still not on the radar could emerge from the deep to throw themselves into contention.

The survey deadline is 28th August

While the rankings take the spotlight, the survey deadline is nearly here with is closing this coming Friday 28 August.

The 2026 players survey gives the community a way to feed back on what worked this season and what could improve next year. That can cover anything from event access and calendar balance to scoring formats, rankings, communication, and the general player experience.

Players who care about the shape of the 2026 season should make time to complete it while they still can. You can find the survey here.

The survey gives players a direct route to shape next season.