Club president emerges as champion on green

THE WEATHER again favoured the bowlers last Saturday afternoon when Ewen MacRitchie emerged the winner of the Champion of Champions competition.

The winners of the club’s premier singles competitions took part in this event and played each other in a round robin format with each game being played over 10 ends. The winner would be the player amassing most shots in his or her three games.

In the first round Alan Smith played Ewen on rink one. Both players made a steady start to this game and scores were tied at three shots each after four ends. However, on the fifth end Ewen scored four shots to give him an advantage which he never looked like losing. He dominated the second half of the match and ran out a worthy winner by 14 shots to five.

While this game was being played, Babs Mundie and Jean Jarmson were competing on rink two. Jean made a strong start and was leading 6-0 at the halfway mark. On the sixth end Babs played a good conversion shot to win the end and so begin her own scoring. Jean scored a further two shots on the penultimate end to go into the final end with a four-shot lead. Much to Babs’ relief, Jean could not get her weight on this end and Babs picked up four shots to tie the match at eight shots each.

Into the second round and Babs and Ewen met on rink three. Ewen again produced a high standard of bowling and was well in charge all the way. The final score was 14-6 in his favour.

At the same time Alan and Jean were doing battle on rink four. After scoring two shots on the first end, Jean seemed to lose concentration and Alan took the next five ends without reply. So, with only four ends left to play, Jean trailed 10-2. She did improve her play over these last few ends but was too far behind to catch up and eventually went down 12-7.

Going into the third and final round, Ewen had built up a very useful lead and looked well set to win the competition. On rink five Babs and Alan met in a game which could, if things went really badly for Ewen, determine the outcome.

The first five ends went well for Babs and she had a 5-3 lead at the halfway point. Sadly for her, though, she failed to score another shot and Alan ran out the winner by 11-5.

In the meantime Jean and Ewen were playing their game on rink six. The first half of this game was quite even and Jean held a 7-6 lead after five ends. In the second part of the match she played some excellent bowls to win 14-8.

With all the games completed Jean finished in second place with a total of 29 shots but out in front on 36 was club president Ewen.

Hat night
A heavy rain shower did not deter 10 bowlers from appearing on Tuesday evening for the last hat night of the season which was won by Jean Jarmson, Pat Hunter and skip Findlay Jack. The rain was short lived and the players enjoyed a very pleasant evening.

Playing pairs on rink two and triples on rink three, it was decided that the pairs should play 18 ends while the triples played 16 ends with there being no change of rinks.

On rink two Anne Barron and Skip John Jarmson made a poor start against Ian Scott and skip Ernie Munro and trailed 7-0 after just four ends. Scores were then level at 7-7 after seven ends. On the ninth end Anne and John scored a six which put them three ahead and from that point they never looked back, winning 24-16.

Jean, Pat and Findlay played Willie Tait, Joan Nicolson and skip Mike Bailey on rink three. Being the stronger triple, Jean, Pat and Findlay raced to a 9-4 lead after eight ends. Willie, Joan and Mike played some good bowls and held their own in the second half but could not prevent Jean, Pat and Findlay from winning 29-15.

There will be a sweepstake tomorrow afternoon at 2.30pm. The closing of the green will be marked by a sweepstake on Sunday afternoon at 2.30pm.

The committee would like to thank all the members who have given so much support to the club during the season now coming to a close. Special thanks are also due to Michael and staff for the excellent work they have done on the green.

Area coach John Jarmson hopes to run some classes indoors during the winter months using the materials he received from Ceri Ann Davies. It is likely the sessions will be held on Wednesday and/or Friday evenings.