Clinton News Record, 2014-08-06, Page 22 News Record • Wednesday, August 6, 2014
Local lawn bowlers win gold medal at provincial championships
Prices
isimmialeva
FINAL
QUIDATI
to Bare Walls
. . .
a
LOCATED
AT:
467 MAIN STREET
EXETER
519.235.0173
EXETER
Home
furniture
- AND APPLIANCES —
SALE HOURS: Mon -Fri 10-6
▪ Sat 10-5 • Sun 12-5
BUILDING FOR SALE OR LEASE 519.235.0173
ALL SALES FINAL — NO EXCHANGES -- NO REFUNDS — ALL ITEMS SUBJECT TO PRIOR SALE
Tara Ostner
The Clinton News Record
The Ontario Lawn Bowling
Association's (OLBA) provincial
mens and ladies triples compe-
titions were held in North York
recently and three local athletes
were at the top of their game.
Kay Johns, from just outside of
Clinton, JoAnne Bugler from
London and Sharon Farrish also
from London walked away with
a gold medal in the women's tri-
ples championships.
Johns, Bugler and Farrish are
all members of the OLBA. Johns
plays in District 4, the district of
the Clinton Lawn Bowling Club,
and Bugler and Farrish play in
the district of the Exeter Lawn
Bowling Club. Johns has been
playing the sport for nine years,
Bugler has been playing for 25
years and Farrish has been play-
ing for 18 years. As Dave Bur-
rows, the OLBA coaching coor-
dinator, says, "very gifted
athletes come from small towns"
and these three women had
"very good results" at the cham-
pionships. Johns's performance,
Burrows said, was
"outstanding."
Because Johns, Bugler and
Farrish won gold in the provin-
cial finals, the team will now
advance to the Canadian Cham-
pionships which are being held
from August 17 to 23 in Winni-
peg, Manitoba. Brian McCart-
ney, Ron Wood and Gord Ter-
willegar from District 14 won the
gold medal in the men's provin-
cial finals so they too will be
heading to the Canadian Cham-
pionships. All six of these play-
ers are a particularly integral
part of the OLBA.
The OLBA was created in
1930. At that time it formed 16
different districts that spanned
the entire province. Today, the
OLBA operates provincial
championships throughout
Ontario for men, women and
junior aged players.
Also, in 1954 The Canadian
Lawn Bowls Association (now
known as Bowls Canada)
began hosting national cham-
pionships open to men only
and in 1972 it opened them up
to women. One of the best
lawn bowlers that Canada has
produced is Ryan Bester from
Hanover, Ontario. Coming
from a lawn bowling family,
Bester began to excel at the
sport from a very young age
and went on to win the world
championship when he was 19
years old. Bester is currently
competing at the 2014 Com-
monwealth Games which are
being held in Glasgow,
Scotland.
Lawn bowling is a very old
sport and dates back to as early
as 1000 A.D. One of the oldest
clubs in the world is located in
Southampton, England and is
thought to have been formed in
1299. This club is still in opera-
tion today and is located on the
original site. Some of the oldest
clubs in Canada include one in
Nova Scotia that dated back to
1734 and one in Toronto that
dated back to 1832. The oldest
lawn bowling club that is still
being used today in Canada is a
club in Guelph which dates back
to 1838.
While the sport is played
around the world, it is most
popular in Australia where it is
one of the most played sports in
the country. In Australia,
roughly half a million people
play the sport.
According to Burrows, lawn
bowling is "the ultimate sport
as it combines skill of the
game, the great outdoors, and
social interaction. Bowls
appeals to young and old,
men and women, one and all.
At the highest levels of the
sport, lawn bowls requires fit-
ness, endurance, flexibility,
precision, touch, concentra-
tion, strategy, and a wee bit of
luck." In Burrows's opinion,
people should "go out and
give it a try."
Tara Ostner, The Clinton News Record
JoAnne Bugler, Kay Johns and
Sharon Farrish proudly display
their Provincial Champions
Women's Triples award.
OFFICE HOURS
The Office Hours for
The Clinton News Record is as follows
Mondays - 9am - 5pm
Tuesdays - CLOSED
Wednesdays - 9am - 5pm
Thursdays - 9am - 5pm
Fridays - 9am - 5pm
NowsCli ton
Record
53 Albert St., Clinton, ON
PH: 519-482-3443
www.clintonnewsrecord.com