The biggest lawn bowling action last week was taking place at the Willowdale club in Toronto where the Canadian National Championships were held and there was local interest as Cobourg’s Martin Foxhall was a member of the Ontario A mens fours team. Martin plays at Vice on this team with Gord Legacy, Steve Millar and Dave Llewellyn.
Nine round robin games were played to determine the top four teams which would compete for medals and the Ontario team made it to the bronze medal game which they narrowly lost to British Columbia. There was some great competition and close games, none more so than on the third day when Ontario played three games against the much fancied teams from Saskatchewan, Alberta and BC (the eventual medallists). They had an undefeated record against those teams and at the end of the day were well placed to finish high in the standings and qualify for the gold medal game as their last three games were against weaker teams. However there are no certainties and a loss against the Quebec B team left them with a 6-2-1 record and fourth place which meant they would play for bronze.
In the bronze medal game against BC they were down 14-2 after nine ends, pulled back to level the game before finally losing in an extra end. Despite the disappointment in finishing fourth this was a great performance and an improvement on their previous appearance at the Nationals two years ago.
I spent an afternoon at Willowdale and enjoyed some great bowling from the competitors. I was primarily following Martin's team against Alberta and below is a slide show of pictures from that game and from the Ontario B game
Nine round robin games were played to determine the top four teams which would compete for medals and the Ontario team made it to the bronze medal game which they narrowly lost to British Columbia. There was some great competition and close games, none more so than on the third day when Ontario played three games against the much fancied teams from Saskatchewan, Alberta and BC (the eventual medallists). They had an undefeated record against those teams and at the end of the day were well placed to finish high in the standings and qualify for the gold medal game as their last three games were against weaker teams. However there are no certainties and a loss against the Quebec B team left them with a 6-2-1 record and fourth place which meant they would play for bronze.
In the bronze medal game against BC they were down 14-2 after nine ends, pulled back to level the game before finally losing in an extra end. Despite the disappointment in finishing fourth this was a great performance and an improvement on their previous appearance at the Nationals two years ago.
I spent an afternoon at Willowdale and enjoyed some great bowling from the competitors. I was primarily following Martin's team against Alberta and below is a slide show of pictures from that game and from the Ontario B game