Congratulations to Tim Walton & Peter Larcombe who took out the 2019 Pairs Championship on Saturday. The Final was played in cold & blustery conditions and the match was very close early on before Tim & Peter took control & held on for the win & repeat their triumph of last year. The final score was 22-13.

Well done, Greig.

Congratulations, Rod.

This account kindly provided by Geoff Rose.

Here we are, the business end of the season, the semi-finals of the Men’s Pairs Championship and the crowd was at fever pitch!

Well maybe it was Uncle Joe holding court prior to the cards being called with comments of his team being “full of Spring Boks”. Even before the game began there was controversy. Some players had rolled up on the rink they were to play on and the same happened on the other match rink, so the skips quickly agreed to swap rinks. Your scribe was not involved as he only arrived 5 mins before the game after witnessing Waverly demolish his son’s team Barker in the U14’s rugby.
The green was running a shade under 14 seconds with no material breeze. Conditions were prime for some great bowls and we got them.

Rink 9 hosted Ross Yates and John Swann against “Rocket Rid” Roddy Silber and Chris “Scarey” Carey. Jumping out to a 9 shot lead after 4 ends Rod and Chris looked the goods. But Ross kept drawing nicely and placing his opponents constantly under pressure and by the 10th end Ross and Swanny had won 4 ends to 6 but trailed 13-5. Still in the hunt. Then they throw a short end and the Ridster drew beautifully with CC adding a couple. Swanny ran at the pack narrowly missing, 5 to Rid and CC.

Ross and John fought back drawing nicely and collecting a 3. 18-8 Rod and Chris. Some good draw bowling and conversions saw Roddy and CC win the next 5 ends which put the game out of reach with Rod and Chris closing it out on the 20th. Well done Ross and John and commiserations, tough opponents but you put up a sound fight.

Rink 10 saw Geoff “Puss” Rose and Chris “Dead Eye” Bergman taking on Tim “the tool man” Walton and Peter “No 10” Larcombe. 8 ends to 12 is relatively close but multiples again played their part. Puss got on the jack early and he and Chris started with a 2. 3 all on the 4th and this was looking close. But a 2 then a 4 and a couple of singles to Timmy and Pete saw them out to an 11-3 lead. Chris was dreadfully unlucky on several conversions and Peter was heard to say “great bowl, unlucky result” more than once. We have all had those days, hit the wrong side of a bowl, get a little rub when you don’t want it, sail through a hole the size of a bowl, frustrating as it is that is bowls. And that’s why it is not an Olympic sport.

And on it went with Puss and Chris managing to score singles but not the multiples to catch up. Take nothing away from Tim and Peter, they bowled very well with Peter converting many ends. 19th end saw Chris down looking to drive the jack dead only to send it in the pit 1 down. All done on the 20th with Tim and Peter closing it out 21-11. The score differential doesn’t reflect the quality of the bowls. Commiserations Geoff and Chris and congratulations Tim and Peter. Can you go back to back?

So, the final is next Saturday, and it will be a cracker! I can’t wait but I am a little nervous. Therefore, an early start next Saturday morning for me with some quite time listening to Ravi Shankar before heading to the club. Hope to see you all there. Even if you are not playing join the gallery and have a few beers, it will be well worth watching this display of (hopefully) precision bowls from some of our club’s best.

Story by Chris Carey. Other budding storytellers are welcome to submit their stories of club events to Gerard Coggans, Sue Byrne or Mike Heath to be considered for the website.

On Saturday it was Semi-Final time at St Ives in the Major Singles.

On Rink 8, Fred Alexander took on Chris Carey. Chris had come through his quarter final match against Michael Macourt earlier in the week. Fred made a fast start jumping to 8-1 ahead after just five ends. Chris pulled that lead back winning the next four ends. As the match progressed it was a back & forth affair but Fred was always just keeping his nose in front. Fred took ends 22, 23 and 24 to establish a 6-shot advantage, only for Chris to pick up 3 shots next end. So it went on, each player alternating wins until eventually Fred crossed the finish line having notched up a 4-shot haul on end 30. The final score was 31-23.

On Rink 9, it was Joe Shofer against Chris Wood. This was another close battle with the players alternating wins to keep the score close. Joe kept just ahead, leading by four shots after end 11 and stretching that to eight by end 15. The game started to turn as Chris began a run of winning five ends in a row to bring things level at 22-22 after end 26. After a run of singles it was Chris that pushed in front with 3 shots on ends 33, 35 and decisively on end 36 to win the match 33-27.

The Final will be played next Saturday with our President, Kevin Latham, the honorary marker. The combatants will be Fred Alexander and Chris Wood- best of luck gentlemen!

So it was Major Singles Quarter Finals day on a very cold Saturday afternoon with a blustery wind to keep everyone on their toes. With Chris Carey in action in the Zone Singles, his match against Michael Macourt had to be rescheduled. However that left three intriguing games to be played.

Chris Wood took on Jimmy Barclay on Rink 10. Chris got off to a strong start winning nine of the first fourteen ends and amassing a 16-7 lead. Jimmy then came back to win three ends in a row to narrow the gap to 16-13. Chris stretched that lead back out to nine shots by end 22 and just kept plugging away with singles until the match stood at 30-21 after end 32. Jimmy wasn't giving in and notched a three on the next end but the match ended on end 34 as Chris got two shots to win 32-24.

On Rink 9 we had the matchup of two great characters as Ray Ryan faced Joe Shofer. Joe made a solid start to the match culminating in a 4-shot haul on end 9 to lead 13-3. Ray fought back to take the next four ends but then gave up another four to trail 17-10. Ray's fortunes were looking much better when he netted six shots on ends 19/20 to tie the match at 19-19. The match stayed close until ends 26/27 when Joe managed three shots on successive ends which positioned him for the win 31-22.

Finally we had Rink 8 which saw Fred Alexander matched against John Cumming. Again we saw one player make a fast start- in this case it was Fred jumping out to a 14-5 lead after fourteen ends. John came back to narrow that gap to six shots before Fred went on an unstoppable run winning the next thirteen ends in a row! The final score was 31-8.

So the Semi-Final line-up will see Fred Alexander up against either Chris Carey or Michael Macourt whilst Chris Wood will play Joe Shofer.