Bowls Report | January 7

Rochester club champion Richard Feuk has taken out the Campaspe Bowls Division Champion of Champions title winning 25-22 against Deniliquin’s Steve O’Brien.

In the preliminary rounds he defeated bowlers from Elmore and Mathoura.

Feuk, who previously won the title a decade ago, was thrilled to win again.

He now progresses to the regional final on March 1.

Rochester held a three bowl pairs tournament on Saturday and due to the hot weather the event was played in the morning only.

The winning pair consisted of Rich River’s Roy Jackson and Rochester’s Don Gillies.

Runners-up were Echuca’s Geoff Beattie who was joined by his 10-year-old grandson Jake Brighton.

Pennant bowls returns this Saturday and all bowlers are urged to attend practice on Tuesday or Thursday with all teams still in the hunt for a finals birth.

Lockington

Report from January 6

The club held a successful open fours on Thursday attracting 80 bowlers from City of Echuca, Deniliquin, Mathoura, Rich River, Rochester, Elmore, Calivil, Boort, Cohuna Golf and Stanhope plus several local members.

Club president Russell Shawcross welcomed all bowlers and thanked the sponsors of the day the Moama Bowling Club for their continued support.

Tournament secretary Chris Stewart made special acknowledgement for the assistance from Lorraine Appleby in the preparation of the tournament documents and also thanked Pauline Humbert for organising the special competition.

Stewart also congratulated Kevin Humbert and Les Brereton on the preparation of the excellent green on offer.

On the green the competition was extremely competitive as all teams were at their best.

At the completion of the scheduled four games of 10 ends, there were two undefeated teams.

Under a points and shots up system, the rink from Cohuna Golf comprising Michael Carmody, Phil McManus, Ian Coates, Peter Bibby (s) amassed 110 points to win the major trophies ahead of the Boort team of Jo Maxted, Sue Proctor, Laurie Maxted and Shayne Morris (s) scoring 102 points.

The teams from Stanhope (Barry Williams) and the Jim Harris composite rink remained undefeated but missed out on the chocolates.

Williams finished with a tie and three wins while Harris managed two wins and two ties.

Special competition winners included Lindsay Vallance (Mathoura), Ken Wills (Elmore), Ken Ingram (Elmore), Shayne Morris along with the Rochester quadrella — Alan Crilly, Anton Gusak, Bruce Major and John Weeks.

The CVBD Champion of Champions was held at the Moama Bowling Club over the weekend.

Our two club champions Denise Gilmore and Ray Hanson were valiant in defeat.

Gilmore lost to Jo Hammond (Tongala) in a game where both left-handers surrounded the kitty on a regular basis.

It was the more experienced Hammond that moved through to the next round winning 25-11.

Ray Hanson met Anthony Hulm from Mathoura in another game that produced some immaculate draw bowling.

Hulm proved a little more consistent and moved out to a commanding lead before Hanson picked up a four to reduce the margin.

However, Hulm closed out the game to win 25-14.

Other results were in the women’s section were Melissa Roberts def. Michele Cunnington, Beryl Murray def. Evelyn Locke, Jo Bovell def. Linda Harris.

In the semi-finals, Roberts def. Bovell and Murray def. Hammond.

While in the final, Roberts came out on top.

In the men’s section Dick Feuk def. Ken Ingram, Steve O’Brien def. John Stollar and Brent Reiner def. Brad Tinning.

For the men, Fuek def. Hulm and O’Brien def. Reiner.

Feuk accounted for O’Brien in the final to come out as the competition winner.

Report from December 28

The women have finalised the club championship for season 2019/2020.

The match up between Phyllis MacFarlane and Denise Gilmore provided some extraordinary passages of bowls.

It was first year bowler Gilmore that grabbed the early ascendency to lead nine-nil after the first four ends.

MacFarlane was having some trouble with the pace of the green and her opponent was taking full toll of the situation with some precision draw bowling to move out to a 15-3 break on 11 ends.

Suddenly, MacFarlane found the grass to pick up a double and a four to reduce the leeway and trail 9-15.

However, the persistent Gilmore was able to win consecutive ends to hold a ten shot lead 19-9 before her opponent scored another four shots.

In the closing stanza, Gilmore was able to close out the game and win the title 25-15 and win her first club championship.

Besides being a first year bowler, Gilmore is possibly the very first left-handed bowler to win the club title.

The winner of the lucky members draw at the Christmas party was Trish Jones.