Armidale City Bowling Club hosted the 2024/25 season finals in the North West Bowls State Championship pairs and singles competitions across the weekend.
Wee Waa Bowling Club and Narrabri Bowling Club were represented, with Wee Waa’s Bruce Cowan and Steve Berger finishing as runners-up in the senior men’s pairs, and Narrabri’s Eva Sadler and Lisa Pillar being semi-finalists in the open women’s pairs.
Cowan and Berger progressed to the regional finals uncontested after they were they only duo to register for the Wee Waa qualifying event in August last year.
They took on the West Tamworth qualifier winners, Armidale City Bowling Club’s Peter Doyle and Steve Fuller, in Saturday morning’s semi-final and they prevailed 22 shots to 19 across 22 ends.
The two teams battled out an entertaining game that saw Berger and Cowan come from behind to get the job done. They trailed by as many as seven shots and were down 19 shots to 16 going into the 21st and final end, but they scored a three to force an extra end.
The Wee Waa men then registered another three on the 22nd end to storm home to a 22-19 victory.
The other match went to an extra end as well after Graham Bourke and Gavin Latham from Armidale City Bowling Club and Graeme Nicholls and Greg Harris of South Tamworth Bowling Club were also locked at 19-all after 21 ends.
Bourke and Latham scored one shot in overtime of that game to win 20-19 and advance to the decider to meet Cowan and Berger.
The Armidale City duo outscored their Wee Waa opponents 22 shots to 11 across 20 ends and the match was called there as the final end was not required.
That victory saw Bourke and Latham qualify to represent North West Bowls at the State Championship finals in the Ballina region in April.
In the open women’s pairs semi-finals, Pillar and Sadler challenged West Tamworth Sports and Bowling Club’s Sherilee and Zoe Stewart in their semi-final on Saturday morning and went down 36 shots to 10.
The other semi-final saw Club Gunnedah’s Charli and Ella Cameron take down Inverell Sporties Bowling Club’s Debra Lehman and Susanne Gemmell 29 shots to 10, and the Camerons then went on to outscore the Stewarts 22 shots to 18 in the final.
A former Narrabri Bowling Club champion, Sam Pryor, enjoyed a successful Saturday’s play with his Gunnedah clubmate Tim Thorning. They were crowned champions of the men’s state pairs division.
All of the final winners across an action-packed weekend in Armidale qualified to represent North West Bowls at the State Championship finals in the Ballina region later this year in April.
A full list of winners and runners-up is as follows:
State reserve pairs:
Champions – Caleb Cameron and Jacob Martin (Gunnedah), runners-up – Rosie Fuller and Matthew Fletcher (Armidale City).
Senior women’s pairs:
Champions – Karen Moxey and Amanda Hawke (Inverell Sporties), runners-up – Carolynn Whitten and Mareece Guest (West Tamworth).
Senior men’s pairs:
Champions – Graham Bourke and Gavin Latham (Armidale City), runners-up – Bruce Cowan and Steve Berger (Wee Waa).
State women’s pairs:
Champions – Charli and Ella Cameron (Gunnedah), runners-up – Sherilee and Zoe Stewart (West Tamworth).
State men’s pairs:
Champions – Tim Thorning and Sam Pryor (Gunnedah), runners-up – Darren Richards and Adam Webb (Lightning Ridge.)
State reserve singles:
Champion – Matthew Fletcher (Armidale City), runner-up – Jacob Martin (Gunnedah).
Senior women’s singles:
Champion – Christine Myers (South Tamworth), runner-up – Sharon King (Inverell Sporties).
Senior men’s singles:
Champion – Tony Berry (Kootingal), runner-up – Steve Fuller (Armidale City).
State women’s singles:
Champion – Ella Cameron (Gunnedah), runner-up – Sherilee Stewart (West Tamworth).
State men’s singles:
Champion – Todd Fuller (Armidale City), runner-up – Ben Ballantine (Kootingal).
