Blog Archives

Visit by Rotary Club of Cobourg

9/21/2023

In 2018 we received a substantial donation from the Rotary Club.of.Cobourg to help us build a new equipment garage. For a number of reasons (primarily COVID) it had not been possible to arrange a "thank you" event, until recently. On, Sunday September 17th. A number of Rotarians visited us to see what we did with their donation, to find out more about our club and about lawn bowling. We had a fun afternoon with them, teaching them how to bowl and finishing with refreshments in our historic clubhouse. Thank you again Rotary for your contribution to our club.

Thanks also to those volunteers who helped with the kitchen, setting up, coaching and games.

And Now The End Is Near........

9/17/2023

It comes round so quickly......the last tournament of the season. It was the first running of the Robert (Bobby) Tough memorial tournament sponsored by Al Bell and Laura Mounce. We had a great turn out for the tournament with all eight rinks in play. Nearly all teams were triples although we did have four doubles teams which meant that some games were triples versus doubles which isn't ideal but we made it work! Not all entrants could play all three games which is why Nan Hendren appears in the photos of two of the winning teams!

Given that the tournament was a memorial to Robert Tough we asked players to dress with a Scottish theme and many did as you will see from the photos.

We usually mix things up for the final tournament of the season and this was no exception. The first game was a regular game of 10 ends with three bowls each; the second was 12 ends with 2 bowls each; the third was 14 ends with just one bowl each (there were some long measures in this game). In each game teams could nominate one end as a power play which meant their score was doubled. This proved very useful as teams found out. Trailing by 3 or 4? No problem, score 4 and its doubled up to 8 and suddenly you have a big lead.

The day started with a spider, with the best prize ever, a bottle of Scotch courtesy of Ann Tough. Between each game we also had a skills game. The first game involved delivering a bowl within 2 meters of the jack. Fail and you were eliminated. Succeed and you went into the second round which involved delivering within one yard of the jack. The final round was a challenge to deliver within one mat length of the jack. The winner was Ian Hartford.

In the second skills game a bowls was delivered from the hog line and had to hit a jack placed 2 meters from the ditch. It only took two rounds to find a winner and that was John Saunders.

The overall tournament winners were Jan Skillen, John Clews (Nan Hendren substituted for game 2) and Henry Kowalski. Click here for the full result.

Thanks to everyone who made this final game of the season such a success. We were pleased to have Ann Tough present the prizes. Here's a slide show of photos from the day.

Bill Arthur

A Slow News Week?

9/10/2023

Fairly slow news week. Just run of the mill events such as Baylee van Steijn winning a bronze medal at the World Championships and Helen Kowalski being the top jitney player in August. So, where to start.........

Of course it has to be the World Championships. For the last two weeks we have been following Baylee's progress in the fours and then the triples. After what must have been a disappointing quarter final loss to Scotland it was on to the triples. The team moved through sectional play losing only one game (to New Zealand) and finished second in the the group to set up a quarter final against India. A great win by 20 shots to 9 and they were into the semi final, guaranteeing them a medal. Their semi final was a repeat of their round robin game against New Zealand and the result was the same, a win for New Zealand.

In so many sports the losing semi finalists play one another to determine the bronze winner which always seems to me to be a pointless game and very much “after the Lord Mayor's parade”. I think that giving both losing semi finalists a bronze medal is much fairer and a reward for their overall performance. I'd like to see that happen more often.

Transgressing for a moment, and this is a personal opinion, I would like to see all Ontario Championships follow the format in national (and international) play. That is, round robin play to determine the top teams before moving on to elimination games. The double knockout format is something I have only ever experienced in Ontario and I don't know why the championship committee persists with it. OK, I've got that off my chest, back to matters in hand.

Thank you to Donna Longman for keeping track of all the jitney scores during August. The winner was Helen Kowalski, second was Helen Beaton and third was Henry Kowalski. Well done.

Open Tournaments: We held two tournaments this week, on Monday September 4th we had a mixed pairs 242 and on Thursday September 7th we held an open pairs to round off our open tournament season. The mixed pairs was won by our own Bob Bates and Pat Bylok with a magnificent 3 wins and 49+8 points. At the other end of the prize winners table were Carl Ferguson and Nan Hendren who won the last game high prize.

Bob and Pat could not repeat their Monday performance in the open pairs on Thursday but they did win the last game high prize. The winners were Albert Wu and Martin Foxhall with 3wins and 45 points.

Four Cobourg teams travelled to Campbellford on Saturday September 9th for a pairs tournament and Bob and Pat were in the money again winning the two game high prize. Louisa and I also had two wins but not enough points to get in the money.Bob will be buying drinks at the end of season dinner, he seems to have won lots of money this year!!

I would like to say a personal thanks to those people from other clubs who read this website and have complimented me on the content. It means a lot to me to know that it is appreciated and read more widely than just in Cobourg. Thank You.

Finally, finishing on a sad note, I would like to pass on to Bonnie Sheridan the condolences of all at the club on the passing of her husband Ray on August 30th.

Bill Arthur

You know what to do to see photos from this week and full results

Results

Photos

Youths, Seniors, Novices and more......

9/5/2023

Wow, what a busy last ten days. So much to catch up on.

Youth Tournament August 26th
The youths took centre stage at the club with 13 youths competing in the 4321 tournament sponsored by MVP Sports. Brother and sister Elise and Isaac Kerr (are they the next Baylee and Ben van Stijn siblings?) took the top two places with our own Jacob Hyatt placing third. Thanks to MVP Sports for their sponsorship and thanks to the drawmaster, Ben van Steijn for a well run tournament.

Lindsay Friendly - August 27th
We hosted the Lindsay club for the return fixture in our friendly challenge. Despite a downpour during Saturday night the match went ahead although some of the rinks were unplayable.

In the first round there were wins by Jan Skillen & John Saunder’s teams. Unfortunately, those were our only 2 wins. 2 games won by just 1 point each helped Lindsay win 4 of the 6 matches. That is probably why our Lindsay guests seemed to be enjoying themselves so much at lunch time.

Our fortunes did not improve as the not so friendly Lindsay teams took 4 of the 6 afternoon games as well. We will make it up next year!

Ontario Seniors - August 29th/30th
Bill Arthur and Peter Stuart- Sheppard, with John MacKenzie of Oshawa, represented District 14 in the Ontario Seniors Championships in Hanover on August 29th and 30th The format was double knock out and they got off to a great start with an easy win against District 8B in their first game. In their second they did not do as well against District 13 (who went on to win bronze) and lost the game but in their third game they recovered from 1-8 to beat District 7 and moved on to Day 2. In cold and wet conditions they had a disastrous start against District 11 but recovered from 1-11 and were two down going into the last end. Lying two shots they were denied a tie by a wick right into the head by the District 11 skip. I had one shot left but could not take out the District 11 bowl. District 11 went on to win silver.

District 14 Novice Singles playdowns - September 2nd and 3rd

The playdowns were held in Bobcaygeon on Saturday and Sunday September 2nd and 3rd. Half of the twelve competitors were from Cobourg. In total there were 5 ladies and 7 men. The ladies played a round robin in one group. Lori Wills came out on top with a perfect 4 wins and 12 points. Lynn Bryans was second with 3 wins and 9 points, her only loss being to Lori. Lori will now play in the Ontario Championships at Cobourg on September 23rd and 24th as will Lynn who received an invitation to play since there was a District without an entry.

The men split into two groups for round robin play. One group of three and one of four. Jacob Hyatt qualified for the semi finals, coming second in his group. In the other group there were good performances by Peter Stuart-Sheppard and by Al Bell. However, after all three rounds had been completed there was a three way tie between Peter, Al and Mike Cyr of Oshawa. Once the dust had settled Al placed first with Peter second. Al won his semi final match against Jacob and Peter beat Mike to set up a rematch between Al and Peter. Peter won the final and will represent District 14 at the Ontario Championships in Tilbury.

Open Mixed Pairs (242) - September 4th
Eighteen teams competed in a mixed pairs 242 tournament, sponsored by Brenda Kloostra Royal LePage realtors. Bob Bates and Pat Bylok claimed their second Cobourg open tournament with athree wins and a magnificent total of 49+8 points. Congratulations to them.

For more photos of all the above events click here

This brings everything up to date. Check back next week for all the latest news.

Bill

Visit by Rotary Club of Cobourg

And Now The End Is Near........

A Slow News Week?

Youths, Seniors, Novices and more......

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