THE best bowls players in the Mallee brought their talents to Murray Downs at the weekend for the Murray Mallee Region Finals.
In what was described as a “festival of bowls” by Bowls Victoria country manager Josh Thornton, players from Northern Districts, Sunraysia, Tyrell and hosts Murray Valley fought it out in 11 events.
Winners of each event now head to the state championships in Bendigo in late April.
Murray Valley will be represented in four events.
Racecourse Bowls Club’s Mary Hooper was the star of the weekend, taking out the coveted Ladies Champion of Champions for the first time in more than a decade, beating Northern District’s Jean Fairchild 25-17.
Thornton had high praise for Hooper.
“Mary has been fantastic – she couldn’t believe she won it again 15 years on from the first time – the way she’s played in our playing area championships, it doesn’t surprise me she won.”
Thornton will himself be heading to Bendigo with Murray Downs teammates John Caldwell, Brian Lehmann and Gary McCaig, who won the Men’s Fours.
The quartet beat a Northern District team that included gun Brody Harker 16-11 in the final.
It was the second time in four years a team from Murray Downs will be representing Murray Valley in the event.
“Were obviously very happy – it’s hard to win regional titles against quality opposition – they had young Brodie Harker, and we had to play some very good bowls to get over the line,” Thornton said.
Lisa Critten and Judy Wilson took out the ladies pairs after Wilson also won the ladies triples with Noelene Weir and Teresa Furnell.
The Murray Valley men’s triples will be counting themselves unlucky, as they fell short by one shot in their final against Sunraysia.
“I thought it was the best game of the weekend – particularly the finish,” Thornton said.
“Mark Eckel from Sunraysia played one of the best shots you’ll see to get them the win.
“Norm Smith was very stiff – he was about half a bowl narrow of where he wanted to be to force an extra end.”
The finals were all live-streamed, with Thornton saying it is a great promotion tool for the sport.
“We get a few people watching live, but I think the great thing with Facebook Live is you can go back and watch your own games,” he said.
“Last year we had in excess of 20,000 views – it’s a great way to showcase bowls in the area – we’re one of the very few regions which actually do it, so it’s an excellent initiative from our board, I believe.”
