Local women win silver Region Sides title

BALLARAT Highlands bowls region’s women’s team won all its matches last weekend to take out the state title in the Silver Tier section of the 2026 annual Region Sides Championships played at Ballarat.

Playing at Midlands Golf Bowling Club on Saturday, the team performed strongly and won all its games against Gippsland, Mornington Peninsula and finally Geelong.

That result put it through to Sunday’s final at Sebastopol Bowling Club, in which it defeated Northern Gateway 83 shots to 48 – with all rinks up – to take out the state title.

The rink of Elizabeth Kierce, Sarah Howard, Sarah Braybrook and skippered by Midlands’ Leah McArthur performed strongly throughout the tournament, winning all their games with significant margins, contributing to the overall team result.

The rink went on to be awarded the highest scoring rink in both the men’s and women’s competition for the tournament.

“We were a very united side and this helped us perform strongly throughout the competition,” McArthur said.

“David Berry did a great job coaching us and with Ian Guymer’s encouragement also in managing the team we remained focused and positive throughout the tournament.”

Ballarat Highlands board chairman Lloyd Sims said the team performed magnificently.

“Our ladies finished off with a comprehensive win in the final with a convincing result against formidable opponents from the Northern Gateway team from Melbourne,” he said.

“Being the winners, they will now go through to be promoted to play for the state title in next year’s Gold Tier of the championships.”

The men’s team, which played its games at BMS on the Saturday, did not share the same success.

It lost all three matches played against Ovens Murray, Gippsland and finally Wimmera regions and was unable to progress to play in the final on Sunday.