The Mount Gambier District Indoor Bowls Association won the Victorian Inter Group Championship in Ballarat after only competing for its third time, collecting five gold medals.
The Mount Gambier Association was only expecting minimal achievements after being placed fifth over the last two years, but the association was overwhelmed when it finished first in the J&L Clifton Shield as the top team by a margin of five points.
The Mount Gambier District Indoor Bowls Association travelled to Ballarat over the June long weekend to compete against teams from Northern Districts, Ballarat Blue, Warrnambool Orange, Ballarat Gold, Heytesbury, South/Eastern and Warrnambool Blue, with each team comprising 26 players, of which 10 different team disciplines were fielded.
The Mount Gambier District Indoor Bowls Association showed it was competitive, winning medals in its third time at the championships.
The first player to win gold was Ladies Singles player Serena Bourn who went one step up from last year’s silver medal to be this year’s champion.
Bourn won six of her seven games finishing on top by one point. (19-10 vs SE, 31-3 vs BB, 21-11 vs H, 22-5 vs BG, 14-12 vs WO, 15-20 vs ND, 14-11 vs WB)
The Ladies Pairs team of Keisha and Fiona Pearson had six wins and one draw and also went one step better to change silver into gold this year. (11-7 vs H, 16-11 vs BG, 15-7 vs WO, 11-11 vs ND, 24-7 vs WO, 22-8 vs SE, 31-5 vs BB)
The Ladies Fours team took home the gold medal, with members Nola Spencer, Veronica Opie, Fiona Rochow and Heather Glynn going into the last day sure of a medal but they had to win to determine which colour.
They won the last game by one shot to give them six wins to secure the gold. (14-17 vs WB, 14-12 vs SE, 23-9 vs BB, 24-7 vs H, 18-8 vs BG, 16-15 vs WO, 9-8 vs ND)
The Men’s Fours team had a great weekend winning five games and even losing the last game but were able to hang on to the gold medal by percentage.
The team of Trevor Williams, Garry Burke, Josh Ferrazzola and Gary Bowering was ecstatic with the win. ( 21-10 vs SE, 18-10 vs BB, 19-9 vs H, 17-10 vs BG, 13-14 vs WB, 13-7 vs ND, 18-20 vs WB)
The Mount Gambier Mixed Fours team of Leonie Wastell, Tanya Burke, Peter Gregory and Tony Bowditch also medalled with a gold, finishing quite convincingly with six wins and a percentage of 249%. (17-5 vs H, 26-14 vs BG, 21-11 vs WO, 39-5 vs ND, 13-9 vs WB, 26-10 vs SE, 25-3 vs BB)
The other teams that contributed to the J&C Clifton Shield were – Men’s Singles: Coehen Keppels – four wins and one draw; Men’s Pairs – Tim Radley and Zac Pearson – one win and one draw; Ladies Triples – Bronwyn Hill, Emma Freemantle and Jennifer Bowering – six wins; Men’s Triples – Kevin Burn, Thomas Butler and Craig Pearson – two wins; Mixed Pairs – Nicola Bowditch and Brad Errock – three wins and one draw.
All the region’s points were tallied for the J&L Clifton Trophy with the final placings being Mount Gambier – 94, Northern District 89, Ballarat Gold 77, Warrnambool Blue 74, Warrnambool Orange 66, Heytesbury 65, South/Eastern 60 and Ballarat Blue 35.
