Two local lawn bowlers had a bronze medal finish during the 2017 Canadian Lawn Bowling Championships in Colwood last week.
Greater Victoria’s Annie Mathie and Anne Van Bastelaere, alongside Mary Wright and Belle Chan from the Lower Mainland, represented Team B.C. and defeated Nova Scotia 23-12 in women’s fours to bring home bronze on Saturday.
Mathie and Van Bastelaere were two of the roughly 180 lawn bowlers who descended on the region for the championships. Hosted by the Juan de Fuca Lawn Bowling Club located behind The Q Centre, the tournament kicked off with opening ceremonies on Monday, followed by round-robin play Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, and finals on Saturday.
Local bowlers David Mathie, David Gardner, William Whitelaw and Auzzie Chambers, also represented Team B.C. against nine other teams from as many provinces, including Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Quebec.
Excitement has been building at the Juan de Fuca Lawn Bowling Club since it was announced last fall that it had been selected to host the annual championships. In recent months, the club’s planning committee has had roughly a dozen meetings in preparation for the tournament.
Seeing the club’s hard work come to fruition and welcoming some of the best bowlers from across the country was an exciting moment for club secretary John Stonehouse.
“It’s exciting,” he said, adding there were competitors of all ages ranging from 16 to 70 year olds. “There was some fantastic bowling out here.”
David Calam, president of Bowls Canada, said Colwood was the ideal place to host the tournament as it home to the green in the province, with four.
“This is an extremely good facility. There’s four greens here, that’s unique in British Columbia. Most have two or three. It’s good for the competitors here because you don’t have to travel between locations,” he said. “The greens themselves, the degree to which it’s level and the speed and pace of the greens is good.”
Next year’s championships take place in Regina. For the full medal results visit bowlscanada.com.
kendra.wong@goldstreamgazette.com
