MURRAY Downs bowler Josh Thornton’s accolades continue to grow, with the 43-year-old claiming two of the highest honours in Victorian para bowls recently.
Thornton’s two year dominance of the para bowls scene was rewarded at the Bowls Victoria awards night, claiming the Para Bowler of the Year award for 2023/24.
Thornton’s victory in the award also came off the back of his para state singles title at Kangaroo Flat in April, when Thornton defeated Moama’s Barry Brennan in the final 21-18.
It capped off a big 12 months for Thornton, who also won a bronze medal with his Murray Downs teammates at the Australian Championships in October last year.
That result was a key catalyst in Thornton being named Victoria’s para bowler of the year, with Thornton telling The Guardian it was his team’s success that made his individual achievement all the more special.
“When I got up last Wednesday at the awards night and spoke about it, I touched on ‘Buck’ (Lehmann) ‘Shorty’ (McCaig), ‘JC’ (Caldwell) and the Murray Downs crew, because without being able to win that state title and go to the nationals with them, I don’t think I would have been standing up there,” Thornton said.
“That probably went a long way to me winning the award I guess, and the fact that it did means I’m very fond of the the award now because I got to share it with those guys.
“I’m obviously proud, but there’s a few other things, like national titles and Commonwealth Games selection that will always will rate pretty highly personally.
“But I guess the thing about this award, it coincided with that Murray Downs fours team and it captures that particular moment and everything else around it, which was a pretty special time for me.”
Thornton’s latest on field win was equally special as his victory off the rink, with the now long-time bowler winning his third Victorian para singles title from the past four years.
His title came off the back off an indifferent start to his week, with Thornton and Racecourse partner DJ Weaver eliminated in the first round of the state pairs title – an event they had also won three times previously together.
“This was the first year DJ (Weaver) and I didn’t go any good, we got knocked out on the Monday and I suppose from then on I had a bit of a point to prove,” Thornton said.
“I wanted to win the singles badly after being knocked out of the pairs and funnily enough, I’d argue I didn’t play as well as I could.
“Every match was a battle but I suppose what I’m most proud of is that even when I wasn’t playing my best, I was still managed to grind out wins.
“The final in particular I was well down and it probably looked like I was in a world of hurt at the start, but I ended up rattling off the last eight or nine shots in a row to win the match.
“To be able to do that when under a bit of pressure was a pretty amazing feeling and if I’m being honest, I actually got a little emotional at the end.
“When I was holding the match and Barry (Brennan) was about to bowl his last ball, then when he missed, I got a bit emotional just because of how hard I had to work to get back into the match.
“The two years previous when I played Barry in the final, I think I wiped him off the green like 21-shots to four or five and there was no emotion at all because I just did the job like I should have, but when you have to work hard, it feels pretty good.”
In terms of what’s next for Thornton, the lifelong bowler plans on having an extended break, before preparing for the Victorian para state trials in June, followed by the National Championships in November, where Thornton hopes to defend his national para pairs title.
Although the trials will roll around soon enough, Thornton declared he isn’t “touching a bowl anytime soon.”
“If I get picked for the nationals, I’m not sure if I’ll be playing in the singles of the doubles as the format has changed this year,” Thornton said.
“It will come down to the selectors and the coaches with that one, but outside of that it will start ramping up again around August in preparation for the next bowls season.
The other big focus for Thornton will be on making sure Murray Downs take the next step in the second season of the new Northern Valley pennant competition, with Thornton and his Rams teammates falling at the second last hurdle last season.
“I think, being a new competition, nobody knew where they stood heading into it,” Thornton said.
“There’s an element where I think we’re (Murray Downs) kind of happy with reaching the preliminary final, but we’re also not happy that we only made it that far at the same time.
“We lost to Cohuna Golf on the last end basically in that preliminary final and they didn’t lose to Kerang by much in the grand final.
“Not to mention we beat Kerang in two out of our three games against them, so I think we’re thereabouts.
“We have to get better in certain spaces and or just play better on the day, but I think the great thing about that competition is that it’s actually raised the bar and everyone’s trying to get to that level now, which means everyone will be hunting to beat Kerang.”
