2018 draws to a close
The final two days of action for 2018 in the Manx Petroleum sponsored Outdoor Winter League bowling club saw the first ever J&M Lee doubles competition and a set of fixtures delayed from the weekend before.
This new event has been set up in memory of the club’s chairman, Jack Lee, who along with wife Margaret, died earlier this year; Jack having taken up the position back in 2008.
It was decided to have a competition in support of an organisation that Jack himself was involved in and with that in mind the amount raised, somewhere in the region of £250, will be donated to the Peel branch of the RNLI.
Emerging from the two groups of seven pairs, the finalists in the event were Allan Kennaugh and Alison Keggen, along with Elaine Moore and partner Brian Kelly.
The players battled it out in a contest where all duos took part in games of five ends, with double points scored on the penultimate end.
Just missing out in the groups stage were Caroline Whitehead and Derek Clarke in the black jacks and Rita Callister and Derek Allen in the yellow gang.
Third places went to Terry Bates and Eddie Carlyle; and Margy Tasker with playing partner Bernie McPhee.
The winners of the two sections then went head to head and after three ends Moore and Kelly held a slender lead at 3-2, however in the ‘power’ end a two doubled up to four meant that Kennaugh and Keggen just had to prevent their opponents from scoring a three or better in the final end to secure victory.
After the first seven woods played the leaders were lying on for one and with an almost impossible task Kelly had no alternative but to try and kill the end, he hit the jack, but it remained on the green to give him and Moore one point, which in turn saw Kennaugh and Keggen triumph 6-4.
Members of the Lee family attended the green during the afternoon and some of them stayed to witness the conclusion of the group stages and the final.
The leading two sides in the league table were participating in re-arranged games on Sunday and although they both recorded the expected maximums against bottom team Bits n Bobs, it was a tougher afternoon when they took on Bowl Rollers.
First up Rollers had to take on second placed Mooragh Lakers and whilst they fought hard and took 25 points from their opponents they lost by just three chalks.
Next up were leaders Outsiders, and they battled to the end only to go down by two points in a fixture where they had two losers on 19 and just missed out 107 to 105.
This all leaves Outsiders top of the table with a 12 point lead over Lakers, but they are both drawn closer to the two directly behind; Seven-Up a further three back and then another 18 points to A-Team, so a total of only 33 chalks between the leading four.
Results for Sunday, December 23: Bits n Bobs 52 (0), Outsiders 126 (6); Bowl Rollers 98 (2), Mooragh Lakers 101 (4); Outsiders 107 (4), Bowl Rollers 105 (2); Mooragh Lakers 126 (6), Bits n Bobs 75 (0).
The Wednesday round robin gang of 29 avoided the worst of the weather and were split into two groups, with the runaway victors in the doubles being Lil Smith and Tricia Bull, with second going to Brian Corner and Derek Clarke.
Topping the triples were Allan Kennaugh, Steve Parker and Kevin Firth, just ahead of Erwin Gelling, Janet Monk and Sue Gawne.
The next scheduled round robins will take place on Sunday, December 30 and Wednesday, January 2.