State Champ of Club Champs
Airlie Beach Bowls Club players did us, the district & zone 7 proud at the State Champion of Club Champions played at South Suburban in Mackay.
Pairs: Betty Nicolle & Carol Crosbie played outstanding bowls during the sectional rounds and were undefeated in their 3 games defeating Kawana 18-8, Suburban TSV 19-16 & Boonooroo 20-16 progressing them to the State Final. In the Final which was Live Streamed on the BQ Facebook page here. – Or via YouTube here. They came up against the pair of Lynsey Clarke (419 caps for Aust) & Claire Turley (66 caps for Aust). Betty & Carol started a bit nervously but settled quickly to be tied 7 all with their more fancied opponents throughout the early ends of the game. Lynsey & Claire found their groove and pushed ahead to a comfortable lead until Betty and Carol staged a late comeback but unfortunately ran out of ends and eventually went down courageously 27-20 with the large crowd cheering them on.
Pairs: Armando Isgro & Shane Spann played some awesome bowls in their sectional games, just going down 18-19 to the powerhouse Kawana pairing before having a convincing win 27-16 over the team from Weipa. The third-round sectional game saw them come up against the eventual Gold Medallists from Pialba, in a game that was live streamed on BQ Facebook page here. Or via YouTube here. After an enthralling game the Pialba pair edged away in the end to win 24-18. The boys did enough during the sectional games to progress to the playoff for the bronze medal against the pair from Tara. It was a nail-biting game and can be seen through Spanny’s Facebook page, thank you Vicky for streaming the action. After 21 ends the game was all tied up at 16 all and the extra end was a crakka with the Tara pair holding out to win it 17-16.
Singles: Armando Isgro faced some tough competition in his quest to progress to the finals. Manny’s first game against Alex Murtagh from Mt Isa was a tight game until Alex pulled away for the win 25-16. Manny’s 2nd game against Chris Rosanes from Pine Rivers was a great spectacle of draw bowling in which Manny won 25-16. His 3rd game against Glen Pitts from Algester was on the BQ Facebook page here. Or via YouTube here. It was a great game to watch and could have gone either way with Glen going on to win with some outstanding bowls. Glen went on to win the final against Aron Sherriff 25-10 which shows just how well he played over the 2 days.
Betty & Carol with Lynsey & Claire