From The Mat – January 4, 2018

WHEN it comes to winning bowls events, Karen Harrington and Alan Sampson are a dominant force around Torquay.

Not only are they among the top skip-third combinations in the Geelong Region, but they also have each won our club singles for a third successive year.

And it keeps getting better. Overall, Alan has won six titles and Karen’s tally is four.

Karen played Sandra Skene in the women’s final, which started out as a cracker with both playing top bowls until about the half-way mark, when Karen’s strength and consistency saw her edge away for a comfortable victory.

The men’s event went along similar lines when Alan Sampson took on Joe Issell, who has been playing serious bowls for only a season and a half.

Early on, Joe was holding his own but Alan’s many years of top-grade bowls here and in Melbourne proved too much.

Aside from the big individual honours, when we went into the Christmas-New Year break there were plenty of things to smile about on the pennant front.

The Saturday and MidWeek teams were holding in well and the influx of new talent was beginning to show through.

In the MidWeek comp, Division 1 was fourth, Division 2 fourth, Division 5 sixth and Division 6 third.

On the Saturday scene, Division 1 also was fourth, Division 2 was struggling in 10th spot, Division 4 was second, Division 6 was fourth, Division 8 fifth, Division 9 third and Division 11 second.

Overall, this gives 10 of the club’s 11 sides a real chance of playing finals, which is an excellent achievement at this stage.

The focus of greens activity over the next week of two is barefoot bowls, with the club hosting wannabe champions, or just fun-lovers, at just $15 an hour per person.

It is an excellent break from beach time and all you need to do is make a booking on 5261 2378 or phone in and ask the staff for information.

On the entertainment scene, the club is hosting iconic regional band People’s Poet on Saturday night January 6, kicking off at 8.30pm. We also will be continuing our free music on the deck program throughout the holiday period.

Also continuing will be the seven-day opening schedule for the bistro and bar, with lunch and dinner on offer from Monday to Friday and breakfast lunch and dinner on weekends.