BDO World Champion Glen Durrant and current world No.1 Mark McGeeney were both on top form at the at the Isle of Man Festival of Darts last weekend.

Durrant won the main singles event, the PokerStars Open, and narrowly missed out on what would have been an unprecedented double when narrowly losing to McGeeney in the final of the Visitisleofman.com Classic.

The 33rd running of the festival, organised by the England Darts Organisation, began on Thursday and reached its traditional climax on Sunday afternoon when a crowd of more than 700 enthusiasts were treated to some memorable darts action.

It wasn’t only on Sunday when Middlesbrough man Durrant excelled. Earlier in the festival, in his last-16 match against fellow countryman Mark Layton, he recorded a staggering three-dart average of 133.6, the second highest average ever recorded in competitive darts history.

If he had achieved this at January’s PDC world championships, it would have seen him annihilate both Phil Taylor and eventual winner Rob Cross.

Another record went on Saturday when, in the same round, Daniel Day lost 2-4 to Paul Hogan with a combined average of more than 226, a feat witnessed live by thousands of followers live-streamed on the YouTube channel.

Little wonder then why the Isle of Man Festival remains one of the most popular events in the calendar, and the finals didn’t disappoint.

Kicking off with the 14-year-old prodigy, Beau Greaves, who Barry Hearn last year predicted would become the first female darts millionaire, proved far too good for her more experienced opponent Jack Vincent in the final of the IoM Event Services Youth Final winning 3-0.

The respective male and female Darts Corner Masters, both new events for 2018, were won by Surrey’s Dave Parletti - who beat Wayne Warren of Wales 4-2 - while women’s world champion Lisa Ashton won the seventh leg decider against the evergreen and ever-popular crowd favourite Deta Hedman.

McGeeney, who lost out to Durrant in the 13th and deciding set at the world championships this year, gained more than a crumb of revenge when beating the ’Boro man in the Visitisleofman.com Classic final 4-3, while Ashton completed her double when whitewashing festival regular Sharon Prins.

Both the pairs events, arguably the most-eagerly anticipated and contested of all the festival competitions (and both sponsored by IoM Steam Packet Company), saw Paul Hogan and Jason Heaney come through a field of more than 300 players to see off Jamie Holmes and Ryan Hogarth in the final of the men’s.

Fallon Sherrock, with her partner Casey Gallagher, did likewise when getting the better of the formidable mother and daughter pairing of Lisa and Danielle Ashton.

But it was the action in the PokerStars Open that really lifted the Villa Marina atmosphere.

The highest-placed local darters in the festival were Paul Roberts, Paul Kelly, Rob Corrin and Kevin Lane, while the leading female was Nicola Libreri-Lane.

Proving she is indeed fallible, Lisa Ashton for once had to settle for second best when falling to eventual winner Sherrock 4-2 in her semi-final, while, in her penultimate match, Lorraine Winstanley saw off the formidable threat of festival regular Aileen De Graf by the same score.

The final couldn’t have been closer and in a seven-leg thriller it was Sherrock who took the title and with it the £1,500 first prize.

In the men’s open, which attracted an entry of almost 400 players including six previous world champions, Dutch star Wesley Harms actually had a single dart to knock out Durrant in their semi-final clash, but it was not to be and the world champion didn’t waste the opportunity presented to him as he sneaked into the final with a 5-3 victory.

After beating McGeeney in his semi-final to meet ’Duzza’ Durrant was Holland’s Chris Landman. Although he played well in his debut final at the event, Landman’s vastly more experienced foe was clearly in no mood to let the title slip.

Durrant’s winning dart in the eighth leg was greeted by a crescendo of appreciative cheers. A title he has never previously won was his and with it a cheque for £3,500.

With Durrant, though, it’s never just about the money and to show his class both on and off the oche, within minutes of him picking up his trophy from PokerStars’ representative Jon Weedon, Durrant had not only given away his winning darts for charity, but also a £500 chunk of his winnings to the Heart of Darts charity.