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Tournament Round Up

9/7/2022

Bruton Fall Classic

On August 27th Bill Arthur, Carl Ferguson and Bob Bates were at Cosburn Park to defend their title as winners of the Bruton Fall Classic. They fell just short this time. Afer winning their first two games they were beaten by Peter Stuart-Sheppard who was playing with Bill McCollam (Stoufville) and Lynn Frost. (Cosburn Park) . There was a bounty on their heads as the previous winners and they had to present their conquerors with bottles of wine (provided by the sponsors, thankfully ,says Bill! )

Youth Tournament

A report from Carol Dewey. On Saturday, August 27th we hosted a youth tournament attended by players from Cobourg, Oakville, Belleville, Oshawa and Lindsay. The tournament was sponsored by MVP Sports. The U18s played three games of 4321 and the U21s played one game of 4321 and a ten end game of Phoenix bowls involving switching partners. Their third game, created by drawmaster Ben Van Steijn, had them bowling backwards. Rumour has it Baylee was still on the jack. There was much appreciaton expressed by the parents from the other clubs for Cobourg hostng this event for young bowlers. Everyone went home with a prize so there were lots of smiling faces. Photos of the event can be found on the CLBC Facebook page.

Ontario Senior Triples
These championships were held on August 30-31st and we had representatives in the ladies and men’s events. Mary Salter, Carol Dewey and Mary Thibault were at Midland. A note from the team. “As you can see from our results on the OLBA website, we lost to the gold medal winners by one (tied going into the last end but couldn’t pull it off) and lost to the bronze medal winners by one point. We did “pull up our socks” the second day and played much better - in spite of the wind!

The men’s team of Bill Arthur, Bob Bates and John MacKenzie (Oshawa) were playing at the Muskoka club . Whereas the ladies’ championship was a round robin the men’s was double knockout with 14 teams competing. Afer an opening win against the team that would eventually win silver, they followed it up with another win. The winner of their third game would qualify for the gold medal game. They lost by one point! Their opponents would go on to win gold. Unfortunately they lost their first game on day 2 which in this format meant they were out. So close but so far.

Labour Day Mixed Pairs 242 Open Tournament
The tournament was sponsored by Brenda Kloostra Royal Lepage. Brenda has been the sponsor of this tournament for many years now and we were delighted to welcome her at the club to present the prizes.

It was a cool day but there was some hot bowling with 14 teams competing. The winners, with 3 wins and 45 points were George Boersma and Suzie Palmer (Belleville). In second place were Rhys and Tracey Warren (Lindsay) with 3 wins and 40 points. The best of the 2 game winners were both from Cobourg. In third place were Carl Ferguson and Nan Hendren (41 points) and Bob Bates and Pat Bylok were fourth (38 points). The prize for the last game high went to Rick Barnard and Syd Godin (Campbellford). Thanks to all the players for a splendid day.

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District 14 Novice Singles Playdown

The club had a strong presence in the playdown at Bobcaygeon with 4 of the 8 men and 3 of the 6 ladies. Peter Stuart-Sheppard won the men's playdown and qualified for the Ontario novice singles at Belleville on September 17th and 18th. Peter won all three of his group matches to qualify for the elimination rounds. Good luck to him in Belleville.

None of our ladies qualified but there was some excellent bowling from them and the experience will serve them well for the future.

Vandermeer Toyota Mixed Pairs

8/22/2022

Compared to some recent weeks this past one has been relatively quiet. The major event was on Saturday August 20th when we hosted 14 teams in a mixed pairs tournament sponsored by Vandermeer Toyota.

It was good to have several Cobourg teams competing and to record success. After their recent Ontario mixed pairs silver medal Baylee van Steijn and Jake Masterson were the clear favourites and they lived up to their reputation by winning all three games. There were notable performances by Carl Ferguson and Nan Hendren who won their first two games before losing their third to van Steijn and Masterson. Peter Stuart-Sheppard and Mary Salter were the highest two game winner and another two game winner from Cobourg was the team of Al Purcell and Emmalee Smith.

Steve Nelson (Heritage) and Nicky Chamois (Oshawa) were runners up, winning all their three games and finishing only two points behind van Steijn and Masterson. However it shows that our sport is often defined by small margins as Nelson and Chamois only won their first game on the last bowl in an extra end (to the chagrin of the writer).

Full result:
Winners - Baylee van Steijn and Jake Masterson (3 wins)
Second - Steve Nelson and Nicky Chamois (3 wins)
Third - Peter Stuart-Sheppard and Mary Salter (2 wins)
Fourth - Al Purcell and Emmalee Smith

Click for photos

Where to start?

8/14/2022

It is two weeks since I wrote a news update and so much has happened in those two weeks that it is difficult to know where to start. So let’s do it chronologically.
Canadian U18 and U25 Championships
The championships, sponsored by MVP Sports, started on August 1st and Cobourg had three competitors. Jacob Hyatt was playing in the U18 event and in the U25 we had Ben van Steijn and Emmalee Smith. We were kept up to date with events as they unfolded, thanks to regular Facebook posts and photos from Sarah van Steijn. All three players represented themselves and our club in excellent fashion. Ben was unlucky not to qualify from the round robin but Jacob and Emmalee both qualified in their events. Jacob qualified for the last six but could not quite make it into the medal games. It was a great performance from him though in his first national championship. Emmalee made it to the bronze medal match but just lost out 17-21.
Ontario Mixed Pairs Championships
On August 6-7 we hosted the Ontario mixed pairs. Sixteen teams were in action and the format was double knock-out which meant as soon as you lost one game you dropped to the B side of the draw. It was impossible to win gold after one loss but still possible to win silver which would be good enough to qualify for the national championships as the Ontario B team.

It was disappointing therefore that in their first game, Baylee vanSteijn (Cobourg) and Jake Masterson (Peterborough), lost to one of the favourites, Zwiers and Lancaster 8-21. The pressure was on after that but on a blistering hot weekend they showed they have cool heads on young shoulders by going undefeated throughout the rest of the championships. They reeled off 4 consecutive wins after that before meeting the Zwiers and Lancaster team again in the silver medal match. This time there was no mistake and they won 18-11 to the delight of the home crowd. A great performance and they are the youngest bowlers to ever win the silver medal.

District 14 Senior Playdowns
The playdowns were held in Cobourg on Tuesday August 9th. There were only two entries, both from Cobourg. Mary Salter, Carol Dewey and Mary Thibault played against Nan Hendren, Kathleen Shirley and Louisa Arthur. They played the best of three games. After each team had won one game the third game went to an extra end before Mary Salter sealed the win with her very last bowl. They will now play in the Ontario seniors in Midland on August 30-31. The only men’s entry was by Bill, Arthur, Bob Bates and John MacKenzie (Oshawa). They therefore move forward to the provincial seniors in Muskoka.

Mixed Triples open tournament
This tournament, sponsored by Louisa and Bill Arthur, was held on August 11th. Each team had to include a novice, the idea being that it helps to get novices into tournament play by playing wth more experienced players. Ten teams competed. They were from Campbellford, Belleville, Cosburn Park and Cobourg.

There was a late withdrawal by one team and Bill Arthur's team was a late addition to make sure there was an even number of teams but he then had the gall to go and win his own tournament! Bill’s “scratch” team included Gail Cunningham (who bowled very well) and Martin Foxhall. They were the only team with 3 wins scoring 39 points and 21 against. In second place was another Cobourg team; Mary Salter, Carol Dewey and John Ledgerwood.

Club Singles tournament
On Saturday August 13th four ladies and eight men competed for the club singles title.

In the ladies event Carol Dewey and Pat Bylok were tied with 2 wins each in the round robin but Pat was declared winner under the tie break rules.

In the men's event John Ledgerwood (a first year bowler) won his group and played the other group winner, Bill Arthur, in the final. Bill won the final to retain his title for the third consecutive time. Thank you to the sponsors. Carol Dewey for the ladies and Martin Foxhall for the men.

Go to the photos page

Canada Day

7/2/2022

There was an extra feeling of excitement in the air in Victoria Park as the Town of Cobourg celebrated Canada Day for the first time since 2019 And that feeling was reflected in the club as well with our traditional Canada Day tournament.

Breakfast in the park for some of us was followed by preparation for the tournament and the mandatory Canada Day photo

And then the tournament began. We played 3 x 10 end games. The top teams after round 1 were Bob Bates's team and Dave Shirleys. In round 2 Bob beat Dave 12-6 to maintain the overall lead. Peter Stuart-Sheppard was in second place and those two teams met in round 3. The only other unbeaten team was Ann Tough.

Bob maintained his unbeaten record as did Ann, whose final game win took her into second place.

The full result was:
Winners – Bob Bates and Tom Bevan 3 wins and 42 points
Second – Ann Tough, Sarah van Steijn, Dale McMillan & Donna Longman (Dale & Donna shared the day – 3 wins and 34 points
Third – Peter Stuart-Sheppard and Jacob Hyatt – 2 wins and 34 points
One game high – Mike Place, Eve Gorringe & Anne Leahy with 29 points

Bill Arthur

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The Weekly Tournament Round-Up

6/26/2022

Oshawa Combo Fours - June 23rd
The club had a team competing in the Oshawa Combo Fours on Thursday. Bill Arthur, Louisa Arthur and Mary Salter were joined by John MacKenzie from the Oshawa club (John is almost an honorary Cobourg member!)

It's a fun format that starts with mixed pairs; that's followed by 3 of the team playing triples and one singles; round 3 is ladies and men's pairs and finally it is fours.
12 Teams competed and the top 5 were prizewinners. Unfortunately the Cobourg team was 2 points short of the prizes and finished 6th. Highlights were the ladies pairs with a win for Mary and Louisa and the men's pairs where John and Bill were 11 down with 3 ends to play but scored 3, 5 and 3 to tie the game.
Thanks to the Oshawa club for a great day but they could have turned down the temperature a bit!
Gordon Insurance Men's Pairs

Jim Gordon was a longtime member of the club and past President. This was the first time the tournament had been held since Jim passed away and the club is grateful to Gordon Insurance for continuing to sponsor the tournament.

Ten teams competed and the winners were the home town boy (boy?) Martin Foxhall playing with Steve Nelson of the Heritage club. Three wins and a points total of 44+4 was just enough to beat Mike Mogan and Frank Hibbs of Cosburn Park who also had 3 wins but points of 43+3. Rick Tompkins (Campbellford) and Bob Guppy (Peterborough) were third with 2 wins and 41 points. The last game high prize was won by David Saliba and Rob Cipparone (Pickering) with a score of 15.

Photos from Gordon Insurance tournament

Latest tournament news

6/19/2022

Report from roving reporter, Sarah van Steijn on the cut throat (4321) club tournament on Saturday June 18th

What a great day!

Thanks to Gerald Childs and David Culhane for sponsoring today's tournament and to David and Kathleen Shirley for running a well organized day!

The bag pipes were blowing (My ears are still ringing) and the cabers were tossed. It wasn't quite windy enough to see what's really under those kilts!

But we all bowled well!

5th place is Carol Dewey 113 points
4th Mary Salter 115 points
3rd Mike Place 118 points
2nd John Hawryszko 120 points
1st Ben van Steijn with 131 points.
Click here for photos

In other news from the weekend

Bob Bates and Bill Arthur played in an Open Pairs at Agincourt. Agincourt is the host club for the Ontario Pairs next weekend and Bob and Bill were using the event as practice. How did they do? Well, they won one of their three games but let's just say they were saving their best for next weekend!

Peter Stuart-Sheppard was out and about in the last few days. Here is his report.

On Saturday June 18 I travelled to Cosburn Park in Toronto for a Mixed Pairs tournament with Baylee van Steijn. It was a breezy, blustery day with a number of hats being blown off heads and even the odd gust that visibly took rolling bowls off their line! We acquitted themselves well, finishing in the money amongst the 2 win teams, placing fifth out of a large field of twenty teams.

Two days later on Monday June 20th I travelled to Lindsay to take part in Lindsay's first Open tournament in two years. There was a wonderful atmosphere and a great sense of fun and welcome, as Lindsay bowlers re-entered the Open tournament schedule on their home green for the first time since pre-Covid days! With my teammates Bill McCollam (Stouffville) and Lynn Frost (Cosburn Park) we played three strong games and finished fourth in the tournament, taking home 2nd high 2-game honours and prize money.

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Weekend Wrap June 11/12

6/13/2022

There was a lot going on for Cobourg members this weekend. I’ll start with the news that on Friday Bowls Canada announced the team to represent Canada at the Commonwealth Games in England this summer.

Despite a strong performance at the trials in Windsor earlier this month Baylee van Steijn narrowly missed the cut for the team. It was always going to be a challenge for Baylee, the youngest member of the senior squad, to make the team. The Cobourg club is immensely proud of her performances and we are sure her time will come, hopefully in Australia in 2026.

This weekend saw three Cobourg members compete in the Ontario Open Fours Championship in Hanover. Baylee van Steijn was part of a team which was mainly made up of ladies from the Balmy Beach club in Toronto. After two losses in the round robin group of four the team changed the order of play and Baylee moved from vice to skip to defeat the team that eventually came third in the championships. But it was too little too late and not enough to qualify for the last four on the second day.

Bill Arthur was playing with John MacKenzie and Alan Steffen form Oshawa and Jake Masterson from Peterborough. Sixteen teams competed in four groups of four. After the round robin they finished with a 1 and 2 record which was not good enough to get them into the last eight.

The other Cobourg member was Martin Foxhall playing with a long time partner from Stouffvfile, David Llwellyn plus Erik and Rob Galipaue from Port Credit. They finished their round robin with a 2 and 1 record and then went on to win the silver medal. That means they will play as Ontario B in the Canadian National Championships later this summer. Congratulations Martin.

Nearer to home there were two Cobourg teams competing in an open triples tournament in Campbellford. Each team had to include one novice in their team. It turned out to be a good day for the Cobourg teams as both of them were in the prize money. Peter Stuart-Sheppard, Bob Bates and Nan Hendren took third place as the second highest two game winner. Ben van Steijn, Mary Salter and 13 year old Jacob Hyatt won the prize for highest points score of the one game winners.

Bill Arthur

Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head

6/9/2022

The Spectacular Water Systems tournament certainly lived up to the sponsor’s name. One of the players was heard saying “raindrops keep falling on my head” and that was certainly the case in the first game. After 6 ends the rain came pouring down and teams retreated to the safety of the club house. After the rain break play resumed and the leader in the club house was Bill Arthur’s team with a score of 12+5 points, followed by Bob Bates’s team with 11 points.

In the second round Bill’s team defeated Bob’s team. Mike Place’s team was the only other team with 2 wins so those two teams faced off in the final game. By this time, we had sunshine and the greens were drying out quickly which meant an adjustment to the conditions was essential. Mike’s team’s experience came to the fore and they ran out 9-5 winners to win the tournament. The full result was as follows:

Winners: Mike Place, Dianne Hawryszko and Bozana Brick; 3wins and 27 points
Second: Bill Arthur, Anne Leahy and Deborah Gourd; 2 wins and 29+5 points
Third: Carol Dewey, Vince Tamburello and John Hawryszko; 2 wins and 26+4 points
One game high” Mary Salter, Ken Bevan and Bill MacNab; 20+5 points

Photos

WE-FIX-U MIXED PAIRS

6/5/2022

Sunshine, great location, superb greens and great lawn bowling.

Yes, it has to be the Cobourg Lawn Bowling Club which hosted an open mixed pairs tournament on Saturday June 4th. The tournament was sponsored by we-fix-u physiotherapy and foot care and the club acknowledges them and thanks them for their continued support.

Fourteen teams competed, including six from Cobourg. There were visiting teams from Campbelford, Stoufville. Kingston, Belleville, Oshawa, Heritage and Pickering.

The first round was very tight with the winning teams scoring 13 or 14. After the second round Rick Barnard was the leader with 31+5, closely followed by Bill McCollam with 29. Those two teams played one another in the final round with Rick coming out on top with a 12-5 win.

Dave and Kathleen Shirley of Cobourg played consistently well all day with wins of 13-6,
11-10 and 11-9 to take second place.

I cannot finish this report without mentioning Jacob Hyatt, one of our Cobourg youth bowlers. Jacob played with Mary Salter and was in no way overawed by the strong and older competitors. He played very well all day and although Mary and Jacob didn't win any games they lost by only 3 to the eventual winners and by one and two in their other games.

The full result is as follows:
Rick Barnard and Syd Godin (Campbelford) 3 wins 43+5 points
Dave and Kathleen Shirley (Cobourg) 3 wins 35 points
Bill McCollam and Lynn Frost (Stoufville) 2 wins 38 points
Pierre Vanderhaut and Partner* (Kingston) 2 wins 37 points
Last game high George Boersma and Suzie Palmer (Belleville) 18 points
* Apologies but I don't have Pierre's wife's name

Bill Arthur

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Congratulations Peter-Stuart Sheppard

5/30/2022

On May 28 Peter Stuart-Sheppard along with teammates Bill McCollam (Stouffville) and Lynn Frost (Cosburn Park) won the Frenchman's Bay Mixed Triples tournament and trophy at the Pickering LBC. It was a beautiful sunny day for bowling with a lovely breeze coming in off the lake. A key to the victory was a come-from-behind win in the second game over a team that included Chrystal Shephard and Laila Hassan, two OLBA Hall of Famers.

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