What a great Canada Day tournament. Congratulations to all involved for making it a fun day. I particularly hope that the new bowlers who were playing their first tournament enjoyed it. By conforming to the red and white dress code and dressing the club in flags we created a spectacle to fit in with the rest of Victoria Park and attracted many visitors hanging on the fence all day long to watch and photograph the unique and colourful scene.
Sixteen triples teams competed for the trophy sponsored by Thomas Buick GMC and we played three ten end games. For several years now the tournament has been played in fine, sunny weather but the heavy rain of the previous day and the forecast for showers was a cause for concern. Fortunately the greens drained well, the showers mainly stayed away and the conditions actually turned out to be ideal for lawn bowling.
The winning team, skipped by Dave Carleton, with Pat Andersen at Vice and Arnold Bowman at Lead, got off to a flying start with a 14-4 win. The other big winners in the first round were the teams skipped by David Brister (13-4); Bob Tough (13-5) and Cash Eddy (13-9). Those top four teams competed against each other in the second round with Dave Carleton beating David Brister and Bob Tough beating Cash Eddy to set up the top game of Dave versus Bob in the final round which Dave won 10-6.
Whilst those teams were battling it out for the trophy the team skipped by Bill Arthur (with Judy Hickey at Vice and Wendy Wren at Lead) was maintaining steady progress by winning their first two games but they were never really in contention to win because all their games were tight and low scoring. However they were the only other team to go undefeated throughout the day and claimed second place with 26 points, seven behind Dave Carleton.
The full result is on the results page and there are a number of photos on the photos page.
The Executive Committee decided that the club proceeds from the 50/50 draw would go to Ben and Baylee van Steijn to help with their trip to the Canadian National junior championships. Thank you to those who contributed so generously and to those who also made personal donations.
And finally, congratulations to Bonnie Sheridan who won the opening spider!