Prestige Triples tournament

A hugely successful Prestige Triples tournament has been described as ‘the best ever’ by many of the 84 Bowlers who participated in the 2-day tournament on the weekend.

The event was the culmination of the collaborative efforts of the Clubs’ new Unified Bowls Committee, supported by many volunteers, highlighted and made possible by the generous support of local Business sponsors.

Sponsors included Parkes Caravans, Betta Electrical, PFD Food Services, Telescope Tyres, Terry Bros Carpet Court and Ash Davis Tattooist.

The atmosphere, bowlers’ camaraderie and spirit on display exhibited by all the bowlers was a credit to all bowlers and spectators, with many vowing to return again next year.

The boys from Belrose Bowling Club Sydney made their annual pilgrimage for about the 15th successive year.

Teams also travelled from Dubbo City, Orange Country Club, Wagga Wagga RSL Club and of course the wonderful support and teams from Parkes Services Railway Bowling Club helped make the event one to remember.

There were also individual Bowlers from Narromine and Merrylands Club in Sydney. All local bowlers gave a huge welcome return to ex-club stalwart Tom Furey, who now plays with Lowlands Bowls Club in Newcastle.

Winners over the weekend in first place was Josh Annettes, Arty Stacey and Kyle Cowper from Wagga Wagga RSL Club, who enjoyed themselves so much that they indicated a return again next year.

Second place-getters were Annie Teague (Merrylands Club), Sam Teague (Mum!) and Shane Hodge.

Third place-getters were Mark Fitzalan, Mark Dwyer and Peter MacQueen, with the fully local team of Guy Ellery, Steve Turner and Mick Simpson finishing in the money in 4th spot.

The corner-to-corner event, sponsored by Parkes Caravans was won, of course by the GOAT, Gary McPhee, who gleefully pocketed the cash on offer.

The Spider event, sponsored by Terry Bros Carpet Court was won by Andrew Trotman.

Raffle winners were Troy Thomson – winning a new set of Bowls, and Liz Byrnes won the bottle of heavily flavoured cordial.

There were also 5 individual Round winners. The number and quality of prizes was indicative of the high level support from all the sponsors, that in turn provided a great catalyst to the Committee Members to organise and manage a stunning Bowls event over the weekend.

Championship matches

There were 2 Matches in the Clubs’ Major Pairs Championship over the last week.

In a drama filled match, the tipsters favourite pairing of Nathan Reynolds and Dave Reilly were defeated in a huge upset loss by Mark Glasheen and Tony Riordan.

Reynolds and Reilly had the match won with a lead of 7 shots with just 6 ends left to play. However, Mark and Tony Riordan clicked into gear to win each of those remaining ends, scoring 10 shots to zip, to win the match by 20 shots to 17, leaving a shell-shocked Team Reilly in their wake.

The second match was almost a non-event as the all-conquering Brian ‘sticks’ Hampton and Ian Simspon completely eclipsed the experienced, though unpredictable duo of big rig Steve Turner and the patient Guy Ellery.

Brian and Ian won 8 of the first 11 ends and didn’t ease up to record a staggering win by 24 shots to 11 over Steve and Guy, who invoked the mercy rule to enable an early finish to the onslaught.

Social Bowls

A good roll up of bowlers on Thursday enabled 2 triples and 2 pairs games to be played.

In the first triples game, Noel Johnstone led for the wandering Geoff Smith and Tony Riordan against Bob Freeman, Bruce Orr and Steve Ryan.

The scores were level at 18 shots each after the 18th end after Bob, Bruce and Steve fought back after being well behind prior to that point. Skipper Riordan stepped up when it mattered the most, as he often has an annoying habit of doing so, to Skip his team home to a narrow 2 shot win, defeating Bob, Bruce and Steve by 23 shots to 21.

Mike Valentine and Darryl McKellar overcame an 11-shot deficit after the 7th end to eventually easily prevail against Col Mudie and Col Miller. Mike and Dazza enjoyed a stirring come-back win by 22 shots to 14.

Colin Hayward and Rob Irving defeated John Ward and Warren Bevan by 23 shots to 16.

Team Irving were grinning after establishing a handy early 7 shot margin, due to their combined innate ability to always have bowls in the head on most ends.

Their strong display of team Bowls prevented John and Warren from closing the gap on the score-card, though they did continue the contest to the last Bowl.

The second triples game between Brian Townsend, Gary McPhee and John Wright against Col Woods, John Corcoran and Mark Glasheen was a one-sided affair with Team Wright easily accounting for their opponents by 30 shots to 15.

There were no social bowls on Saturday due to the Clubs’ Prestige Triples event.

A reminder that Friday evening and Sunday morning social Bowls are proving extremely popular with both events well supported by new bowlers and a few old hands as well.

Anyone in the community, near or far, who would like to try rolling down a few bowls will be made most welcome on either day. Just phone the Club or turn up.