Thrilling end to bowls carnival’s fours comp

By Chris Mitchell

THE 92nd year of the Mildura May Carnival, the longest running bowls carnival in the world, was held earlier this month.

Day one got under way with the Championship Fours, in which 18 teams contested four games of 10 ends.

By the end of proceedings, the only team with a clean slate was the composite side of Murray Fazulla, Lloyd Iaccarino, Janis Parks and Wayne Parks. They had three wins and a draw to claim first prize.

On day two, the Championship Pairs were contested with 38 teams on the starting line. At the end of the day, John Dickens (Gunbower BC ) and Pat Quinn (Cohuna Golf) held the cup aloft.

Day three saw a four-man medley played out. The Marion team of Tony Devlin, Ken Holtham, Lynton Keen and Daryl Gray took the chocolates.

The Marion Club had 12 players competing in the Carnival. They have been regular participants at the carnival for over 12 years.

On Thursday, day one of the Rio Vista Fours got under way with 18 teams competing for $3000 in prizemoney and Australian ranking points.

By game five, only two teams were left with a full quota of games won and by the luck of the draw, faced off against each other in the final stanza.

Peter Gageler (S), Barry Hooker, Sue Coultas and Geoff Coultas took on the local composite side of Darren Cordwell (S), Fred Guigno, Maurie Press and Mick Legin.

The game see-sawed right to the last bowl. Gageler drew what appeared to be the match winner with this last bowl, a back hopper, not to be denied Cordwell, as cool as a cucumber, responded and sat the shot out claiming victory for the local composite rink.

The main event took place last Saturday and Sunday with the playing of the GCB Williams Classic Pairs.

With $4000, on offer it was not surprising to see a near capacity entry of 52 pairs lining up to do battle.

After game five on Sunday afternoon, only four teams had survived the examination with a full hand of games won.

Playoffs followed and in the semi-final, Barry Hooker and Peter Gageler accounted for Emma Simmonds and Tanner Dickson-Arthur, while Stewart Forbes and Adrian Green eliminated Brody Harker and Craig Harker.

In the final over five ends, Forbes and Green kept their opposition under wraps and took out the prestigious GCB Williams Classic Pairs over Hooker and Gageler, with Harker and Harker taking third spot and Dickson-Arthur and Simmonds claiming fourth place.