Age group for youths was 12-18 and in total twenty one youths from across Ontario competed. There were separate competitions for girls and boys. Nine girls and 12 boys competed.
The club was delighted to welcome MP for Northumberland – Peterborough South, Kim Rudd and Councillor Emily Chorley representing the Town of Cobourg. During the opening ceremonies both of them spoke about the benefits of lawn bowling as a family sport and a sport for all ages. Representing the Ontario Lawn Bowls Association Director were President Philip Francis and Director, Steve Schucknecht.
In the girls section the local favourite was Baylee van Steijn of the Cobourg club. Baylee was a silver medal winner at the Canadian Championships last year and has previously won silver in the Ontario Championships. This is her last year as a youth bowler and the pressure was on her to perform well in front of her home club.
In the boys section Cobourg representatives Dean West and Hobson McMaster were pitted against older and much more experienced bowlers but both bowled well and performed admirably and were pleased with their performances even though they were eliminated after the round robin section on day 1.
In Baylee’s round robin group there was a three way tie with each of three girls winning two and losing one game. However, based on points difference Baylee was seeded first in her group which meant she advanced direct to the semi final stage on day 2.
In her semi final game she played Cori Millard of Lindsay who had beaten her in the round robin and who had won the previous three Ontario championships. In a very tight game Baylee won 18-14 and moved on to the final to play Adrianna D’Sa of Oshawa. That was an incredibly tight game as well with excellent bowling by both players and to the delight of the home crowd Baylee took the gold medal with an 18-15 win.
Baylee will now represent Ontario at the Canadian Youth Championships in Juan de Fuca BC in August