Isle of Man County Crown Green Bowling Association

South Ramsey Bowling Club hosted this year’s Over 60’s Manx Championship with the competition attracting 64 entries, 32 played on each of the qualifying days on the Tuesday & Wednesday afternoon with players having to win two games on their qualifying day to reach the finals day on Thursday.

Reaching the Last 16 before losing out were Bryan Corner (North Ramsey), Mike Thomas (Onchan), Steve Kelly (South Ramsey), there were five players who pushed their opponents all the way with Andy Kennish (Peel) losing out 19-21 to Steve Bridson (Marown), Geoff Porter (North Ramsey) lost 18-21 to Derek Allen (Onchan), team mate Colin Spence reached 20 against Frank Watson (Peel), as did Mike Alexander (Onchan) against Peter Oates (Castletown), whilst Alec Taylor (Peel) lost 19-21 to Ron Williams (Castletown).

In the quarter finals Harry Kelly (Peel) had his challenge ended by Steve Bridson, whilst home greener Chas Grills was leading 19-14 and lying game against Derek Allen, only for Derek to wick in and go on to run out with a 21-19 win. Frank Watson lost 16-21 to Ron Williams, whilst Dave ‘Barney’ Kelly (Peel) won 21-11 against Peter Oates.

The semi-finals were straightforward with Derek Allen taking a 21-15 win against Steve Bridson to take his place in the final, whilst Dave ’Barney’ Kelly took a comfortable 21-6 win over Ron Williams.

The final started with Derek Allen taking a single on the first end, then putting his jack into the corner which Barney jumped on to score a single to get into the corners, then picking up a two on the next end. Derek capitalised on two poor bowls from Barney to score a good two to level things up at 3-3. This proved to be the last end that Derek scored, and was possibly one game too many on the day for Derek, with Barney eventually coming out of the corners to play a tricky mark over the crown due to not playing up to his usual standard in the corners. Barney scored 18 consecutive chalks to take an emphatic 21-3 victory to seal the Over 60’s Manx Championship title at the first time of asking.

The presentation was made by competition secretary John Ryder, who introduced Roger Thomas to present the prizes. Thanks were given to John & Joan Ryder for running the sheet, South Ramsey for hosting the event over the three days, the greenkeepers for the excellent condition of the green, the ladies for the selection of refreshments provided, and all the club members who assisted with the measuring & stewarding throughout.