professional game has proved a catalyst for a spurt of young players to try their hand with a set of darts, and he admits that seeing the youth emerge and develop in his area ranks just as highly as winning silverware himself. “To witness some of the players go from boys to men from the Cleveland Youth to Cleveland Senior squad gives me as much satisfaction as winning any tournament.” “I’m delighted to sponsor a few of the players and would love to do more mentoring/training if I had the time!” A founder of the Teesside ranking series – a league of open tournaments culminating in a lucrative Grand Finals night - Durrant is largely responsible
4-1 in the first round. He was in my mind when I was playing in the final that’s for sure.” With the season fast approaching its business end, darts unofficial transfer window opens and rumours circulate as to the potential switchers from one side of the darting divide to the other. Given his recent trophy haul and rapid rise to becoming one of the BDO’s hottest properties, Durrant’s name has been thrown into the ring on numerous occasions – but despite leaving the door open, he insists his loyalties lie with the BDO. “Moving to the PDC is not in my plans. I have experienced the PDC with the Grand Slam qualifier and the amazing experience of playing at the UK Open and it’s everything I like - good venues, excellent
for attracting some of darts’ top names to the North East to put their money where their mouth is in the darting hotbed of the North East. “Winning a tournament in the North East is so tough now. I know how envious players down south are of the circuit we have up here.” “Players must try to win a competition in Newcastle if they think they have what it takes. One of my biggest wins was the Northumberland Open simply because of the calibre of players who attended that day.” On the local circuit, Teesside’s dominant force romped to glory at his home event - the Cleveland Open - in August to mark a week of mixed emotions, following the loss of his close friend and North East tungsten stalwart – Phil Nixon – in the preceding days. “The Cleveland Open was a competition that I hadn’t won before, I’d lost in two finals previously.” “It was two years to the day that Nixy smashed me
markers, superb set ups and playing against the best players in the world.” “The saying is ‘never say never’, but as I said it’s not in my plans at the moment.” “The highlight of my career so far is without doubt playing for England, made possible only by the BDO.” With the help of crucial sponsorship and the encouragement of his local darting community, Durrant is already well on the way to fulfilling his destiny. The proud Teessider is proving that life really does begin at 40 as he embarks on a potentially careerdefining six months, firstly swapping the North East for Newfoundland, Canada this Autumn – before attempting to put the icing on the cake with a fairytale world title at the Lakeside. And at odds currently in excess of 100/1 – that may be worth a pound of anyone’s money.