Seven six-person lawn bowling teams from Richmond Hill and Aurora compete in friendly tournament at ALBC

A bevy of bowlers competed in a regional tournament at the Aurora Lawn Bowling Club's McMahon Park facility on Sunday, June 28.

The all-day competition between Richmond Hill and Aurora showcased the shot-making skills of dozens of bowlers on the spongy, golf green-quality turf impeccably maintained by Town of Aurora crews.

Gordon Weir, who rolled in a beauty against the jack just prior to our chat, described the most satisfactory aspects of organizing the regional competition: “The lunch! The turnout!”

“Richmond Hill stepped up and brought in so many good players. There were some very good bowlers out there.  We're grateful to them and we're rewarding the Richmond Hill club with a nice lunch in our clubhouse and we have some great prizes, too.”

The engaging convener provided a succinct overview of the tourney: “We have over 42 competitors here today, seven balanced teams of six players each and over fifty participants. It's a good crowd on the greens. Everybody's happy. It's a perfect day. It's a little shorter than a regular game – we're running three six-point ends instead of three 10-point ends to speed play. We've mixed up the teams so the players get a chance to meet as many bowlers as possible. We ranked the players A, B, and C in terms of skills, and intermixed the levels so we have experienced players demonstrating the game to players new to the sport.”

Gordon Logan, who's been a club member for seven years and serves on the ALBC Board of Directors, discussed the importance of intermixing the clubs for the tourney: “We always mix the teams. Meeting other people from the visiting clubs is the most important thing—but there's some good competition, too. Every bowling club culture's the same—everyone's friendly and everybody enjoys each other's company. There's a good community feeling here and you don't have to be that good to play in these tournaments. We love to see new people play and embrace the sport. Many club members have great skills, but bowling is like putting. Every day is different.”

By Jim Stewart