Hosted by Greenlands, this Year’s CofC’s produced some great bowling, unearthed some great new talent and provided several possibilities for history to be made.
The morning of Saturday the 15th got the first 4 finals underway.
First up was the Ladies Pairs final where the strong Emerald Isle pair of Sabrina Marks & Mary Dyer took on San Luis who were represented by Caroline Smyth & Mary Lockley. Caroline was one of 10 competitors looking to retain the trophy from the previous Year.
The final winners were Sabrina & Mary.
The Mens pairs saw Holders Chris Brazier & Jason Prokopowych from Quesada take on the Vistabella pair of Richard (Freddie) Willey & Gary Thorpe who had scored a 5 on the last end of their semi final to get through. Chris & Jason proved too good winning the title for the third time and becoming the First Pair to go “Back-to-Back”
The Mixed Pairs saw Monte Mar entering the winning circle with a great performance from Lyne Armitage and Neil Crawford defeating the Bonalba pair of Dennis Wright & Judy Branson.
In the Mixed Rinks Phil Goble, Gina Hindle, Steve Hindle & Dave Eades of Monte Mar took on Greenlands’ defending champions Sue Bosworth, Graham Shoots, Andy Miles & Dave Morrison, after a seemingly customary slow start the Greenlands quartet fought back hard and overturned the early deficit, becoming only the second Rinks team to go “Back-to-Back”
In the afternoon it was another three competitors defending their Mixed Triples Title. Anne-Marie Gerrard, Drew Gerrard and Colin Lindgren from the Emerald Isle fought out a hard game of high-quality bowling against Peta Rhodes, Lisa Bonsor & Pete Bonsor from Greenlands. The Greenlands trio got over the line and denied the Isle from retaining the title.
Sunday morning it was time for the Blue-Ribbon Singles events. In the Ladies Jan Parsons from La Marina took on the relatively inexperienced Bonalba lady Belinda Archer. At the start it was difficult to ascertain which player was the most nervous, however the match proved a real contest and a crowd pleaser. Played on rink 8 the spectators really played a part and both ladies produced some excellent bowling. Congratulations to Jan Parsons who was the eventual winner of a superb game.
Finally, the Mens event, Pete v Pete!
Greenlands Pete Bonsor took on Peter Whitehall from Country Bowls. The score did not reflect the game as Whitehall ensured Bonsor had to pull out some great shots to deny Country Bowls becoming the first “Club” to produce different “Mens” Winner in consecutive years. The result was also a personal milestone for the Greenlands Player entering him into “Elite” company as a winner of the Big Three singles titles in Spain! The Spanish Nationals, The Valencians & The CofC’s a feat only achieved twice previously, by Russel Marks & Peta Rhodes.
Thanks must go to John O’Brien for his excellent co-ordination of the entire event, all volunteers, markers, the owners of Greenlands Sports for the use of their superb facilities and most of all the hoards of spectators who turned up to support their relative club.
