Castlemaine Pistol Club Inc held its annual Goldfields Open competition last weekend, January 30-February 1.
More than 80 shooters competed travelling from as far as Tasmania, South Australia, Yackandandah, Mildura, Echuca, Euroa, Shepparton, Ballarat, Mornington, Melbourne, Geelong and Warrnambool.
Local members also turned out in force to compete.
As the event was only the second major competition for the year, shooters vying for state and Australia team qualifying scores added value to the standard of the competition.
With the event commencing on the Friday evening, many took advantage of our district’s welcoming hospitality for the full weekend.
The Harcourt Bowling Club Men’s and Ladies Singles Championship Finals were held on Friday January 23.
On Friday afternoon Rod Harris and the reigning Club Champion Mark Swain contested the men’s final.
Rod got off to a good lead at 10 to 1, then Mark found his pace and slowly caught up to be within 3 at 18/15 then, 22/19 and 24/22. The gallery was indeed treated to first class bowling by the pair as each end had special moments.
After just under three hours of 31 ends Rod Harris claimed victory on 25 to Mark Swain 23. Congratulations!
The ladies final followed Friday evening, Diane Marsh and Wendy Chaplin bowled well and gave the gallery a good display of competitive bowling. Diane kept up to Wendy for 18 ends at 17/13, but Wendy slowly drew away from her over the next six ends to win at 27 to 16. Congratulations!
As a side note, Diane had lost her bowls in the fire, and after a thorough search of the house she found her old set of bowls so she could compete in the championship.
Thanks to President Gary Maddern who marked for both of the championship games – a marathon five hours!
The winners Rod Harris and Wendy Chaplin will go on to represent Harcourt in the Divisional Championships in Bendigo. We wish them good bowling and good luck.
Weekend Pennant
The heat disrupted round 12 of Weekend Pennant last Saturday; with the expected hot day the Bowls Division declared that all games in Bendigo District were to start at 9.30am instead of the usual 1pm. Teams were juggled to accommodate for players who were unavailable for the early start.
Division 2 64/1 lost to White Hills. Scores were Brett Jenkinson (skip) 12/22 – Brian Leech, Terry Chisholm, Tim Carr. Steve Douglas (s) 12/28 – Col Foster, Wendy Chaplin, Darrell Normington. Rod Harris (s)19/25 – Barry Marsh, Jude Ewing, Carrol Frost. Gary Maddern (s) 21/21 – Chris McAuliffe, Cheryl Maddern, Mary-Anne Doyle.
Tomorrow, January 31 – Harcourt will host Serpentine.
Division 4 60/2 lost to Calivil 79/16. Les Harding (s) 17/19 – Rod Watson, Libby Harris, Kathy Harding. John Grant (s) 19/21 – Ian McMillan, Fran Corstorphan, Kay Frances. Mike Saward (s) 16/12 – David Jeffries, Jett Podesta, Wendy Walsh. Ken Tribe (s) 8/27 – Diane Marsh, Geoffrey Ace, Gary Selwood.
Tomorrow Harcourt will travel to Bendigo East.
Division 7 49/14 defeated Bendigo 30/0. Russell Maltby (s) 23/18 – Vinka Maltby, Ron Douglas, Sheila Oxley. Pam MacGregor (s) 26/13 – Stephanie Holt, Graeme Hill, Faye Hards.
Tomorrow Harcourt will host White Hills
Midweek Pennant
There was no Midweek Pennant played on Monday. Midweek will resume next Monday on February 2 for Round 13 when Division 2 will travel to Kangaroo Flat, Division 3 will host Heathcote, and Division 6 will travel to Strathfieldsaye.
