St Ives win Ku Ring Gai Shield... Again

The annual Ku Ring Gai shield was held last Saturday 23rd September 2023. With 10 mls of rain on Thursday evening the greens had slowed from 18 seconds on No2 and 17 on No1 to a respectable 15 and 14 seconds respectively by Saturday. Many thanks to our greenkeeper Ben who did a great job getting the greens back up to a good pace.

This was the 33rd running of the shield and St Ives was very proud to be hosting the event as current holders of the Shield. Established in 1990, and originally known as the Ku Ring Gai Top 10, it was established so the 10 clubs in Ku Ring gai could fight it out to see who was the top club in the shire. Sadly, as bowls membership declines for various reason so to have the number of clubs that exist/participate.

However, it was great to see the five clubs on Saturady; Lindfield (winners 5 times), Turramurra (winners 8 times), Warrawee (winners 2 times), West Pymble (also past winners) and two teams from St Ives (winners 8 times). St Ives fielded two teams this year (Green and Gold) to enable the draw to work, as Killara were unable to attend this year.

The format tested each club in each of the disciplines of bowls, singles, pairs, triples and fours, entering a team of 10 players. Teams were matched in a random draw and no club will played the same club in two disciplines.

After a great days play we had three teams with three wins each from four games; St Ives Green, Linfield Rollers and Turramurra so the winner is decided by over margin for the day. St Ives Green were declared the winner with a positive margin of 19 followed by Turramurra with 9 and the Rollers with 4. Big wins by our singles player Vicky Bartrop (11) and our fours team (12) ensured we could lift the trophy once more. Congratulations to our Green team of Vicky Bartrop, Cec Thompson and Pete Shlager (pairs), Mike Gruzin, Mike Heath and Jimmy Barclay (triples) and Fred Alexander, Tim Walton, Kevin Bettman and Chris Carey (fours).
Also, a big call out to our Gold team that finished with 2 win but with a loss by 1 shot to Di McBride in the singles, what a close game.

Thank you to mayor Sam Tsai, deputy mayor Chrisine, Kay, and councillors Barbara Ward and Simon Lennon for attending the event. The mayor presented the shield to the St Ives team and made a short speech. Di McBryde spoke on behalf of St Ives to welcome the mayor and councillors and to note that this year we had female representation from St Ives for the first time.

A big thanks to Ku Ring Gai council for continuing to support this event.
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Next year we will host again and look to make it 4 in a row having completed a “threepeat” this year. Thanks to the markers, umpires, spectators and all the helpers that made the day a showpiece for our club and a fun day for all concerned. Go the SAINTS!!!!