A good entry of 44 competed for the honour of club champion in the Manx Petroleum sponsored Outdoor Winter League Bowling Club over two days last weekend with the outcome giving three of the main trophies to the same team.

Mean Machine recently wrapped up their eighth league crown, adding the Derek Killey memorial trophy, which was won by Glynn Hargraves and now securing the club championship to the collection, after Alan Moore beat Matthew Keggen from Louie’s Angels.

The first day saw the participants play down to the quarter-finals stage, with the Meanies having three players through in the top half of the draw, and after the openers they had two winners as Stefan Kelly joined Alan in the next round.

Kelly, who is the junior merit winner, beat overall merit holder Hargraves by just two chalks, while his team-mate was victorious in a close encounter against Lyn Bolton (Titans), one of two ladies who were playing on Sunday.

The other, Lynda Cadamy (Erin Porters) who had played extremely well on Saturday, lost out on 15 to Keggen, with the fourth player through being Dave McCabe, who overcame team-mate Alec Taylor, both from Seven-Up.

In the semis Moore and Kelly fought bowl for bowl in their clash until 11 across, but then the victor ran out on a mark, which he played particularly well.

The other game was a much closer affair, after 15 ends and with six on the card to start, it was all level at 16 apiece.

Then at 19-17 in favour of the Angels player, and with his opponent McCabe on for two, which would have levelled things up, he played with pace and after a good contact scored one himself to be within touching distance of a place in the final.

Apart from the start when Keggen fired and killed off the first end, the deciding encounter was a cautious affair and with 11 ends on the card Moore was 9-14 down, all the points having been scored as singles.

The victor then upped his game and took eight of the last 11 ends to run out 21-17 and go one better than his runners-up spot back in 2013, making him just the eighth different winner in 15 seasons.

Results – quarter-finals: Lyn Bolton 18, Alan Moore 21; Stefan Kelly 21, Glynn Hargraves 19; Alec Taylor 14, Dave McCabe 21; Matthew Keggen 21, Lynda Cadamy 15. Semi-finals: Moore 21 Kelly 11; McCabe 18 Keggen 21. Final: Moore 21 Keggen 17.

Just a few days earlier the midweek round robin had a gang of 35 split into two sections, with the trio of Shirley Whelan, Pauline Worrall and Bernard Thackrah taking the spoils by one point ahead of Allan Kennaugh, Derek Cadamy and Tricia Bull, while in third it was Erwin Gelling, Mike Ware and Mike Skelly.

One point separated the doubles group also, with Roy Moore and Ken Clarke pipping Sylvia Kennaugh and Joy Stephens, and they were followed by Lynda Wilson and Bert Quayle.

This weekend will see the final two days of the winter season, beginning with a round robin on Saturday, followed 24 hours later by the Best versus Rest event and prize presentations.

Proceedings will begin at 1pm and taking part in the latter will be the league champions, Mean Machine (Best) and the individual team merit winners, who make up the Rest team.

Representing the challengers will be Mike Thomas (Parkers) captain; Lyn Bolton (Titans); Ady Skinner (Mooragh Lakers); Margie Tasker (Louie’s Angels); Nigel Thomas (Seven-Up); Derek Allen (Erin Porters); Rosie Winckle (Bowl Rollers); Doug Allan (Govags); Tom Collins (Bits n Bobs); John Alderson (Castletown Cannons) and Tracy Moore (Castletown Corkers).

The champions will be joined by Jenny Moore, ladies merit winner, and Matthew Keggen, as club championship runner-up, the remainder of the team are yet to be confirmed.

League prizes are awarded down to fifth and from the quarter-finals onwards in the club championship, so if those concerned can be in attendance to collect their awards it would be much appreciated.

Even after an extremely wet winter, the Manx Petroleum sponsored Outdoor Winter League Bowling Club league programme was completed on schedule, for the first time in the last nine seasons.

Winter after winter the Club has played fixture catch-up over the final weekends, but remarkably no such problem this time, helped by a good green and members playing in some difficult conditions.

Saturday’s action, which was held in perfect weather, involved three teams who all improved their averages, but remained where they were in the overall standings.

The session could have seen Titans move up a position, but they could only afford to drop three points, which they did in the opener against Castletown Corkers, so this left them needing a maximum score from the final outing.

Govags then joined in and began with success against their southern opponents Corkers, before taking four games off Titans and deny them that fourth spot, but they missed out on victory by the closest of margins in the all-important points tally.

Results for Saturday, March 5: Titans 123 (4) Castletown Corkers 98 (2), Castletown Corkers 109 (2) Govags 116 (4), Govags 107 (4) Titans 108 (2).

Two weekends remaining to complete this 15^th season of outdoor winter bowls, will start with the club championship and with an entry over 40 it has been decided to stage the competition over this Saturday and Sunday with a 1pm start.

Looking further ahead, two more players have been added to the team merit winners list and they are Lyn Bolton (Titans) and Tracy Moore (Castletown Corkers).

A change of procedure this year regarding the Rest team to take on the Best, in that if a team winner is not available, then a representative will be found from the overall merit table, rather than the second placed player in a particular team.

So first reserve will be Ady Skinner from Mooragh Lakers, as team-mate Rob Monk will be replacing Jenny Moore who has been elevated to the Best as Ladies Merit winner.

The end of season event will also kick-off at 1pm and take place on Sunday, March 20, raffle prizes along with support for the participants, would be very much appreciated.

Two more round robins either side of last Saturday saw relatively small groups, the first having 21, played as triples and being won by Mike Skelly, Jeff Wilson and Tricia Bull.

The other had 22, which was split into two sets of doubles, with those topping the scores being Philippa Taylor and Peter Kelly, along with Alan Moore and Lil Smith.

Two days of perfect weather were a welcome relief for members of the Manx Petroleum sponsored Outdoor Winter League Bowling Club as two of the main awards were settled on a sunny Sunday afternoon.

Seven-Up had let a 21-point advantage slip over the past month and could only hope that nearest rivals Mean Machine would suffer the same fate.

Meanwhile waiting in the wings for a mistake from either side, or perhaps both, were current leaders on average, Mooragh Lakers who had finished their fixtures.

It was a perfect start by the chasers as they racked up a maximum and left their opponents Govags trailing behind on a total of just 64.

Bottom side Castletown Cannons then entered the action, but could not stop Govags notching up a four games to two success.

Cannons next had the tough task of facing Seven-Up in the final encounter of the session and they did manage to win one game and in turn make things a little easier for Mean Machine who were playing 24 hours later.

The winners had however done enough to move back above Lakers by just one point and therefore guarantee at worst runners-up spot for a third time.

Results for Saturday, February 27: Seven-Up 126 (6) Govags 64 (0), Govags 115 (4) Castletown Cannons 96 (2), Castletown Cannons 79 (1) Seven-Up 121 (5).

Sunday’s trio of teams included Louie’s Angels and the big question at the beginning, was could they do to Mean Machine, what they had done to Seven-Up just a week or so earlier and deny them the title.

First the seven-time champions had to overcome Bits n Bobs, knowing they could only lose 21 points in order to retain the trophy, and at the end of play in the first outing, they had dropped six to leave them with a reduced margin.

But who could possibly have predicted the next result as the champions wrapped up the league in emphatic style, whitewashing the Angels to record their eighth success in nine seasons.

Angels then had to pick themselves up in order to notch up enough points to secure fourth spot and although they dropped seven against Bits n Bobs it will take an almost prefect afternoon from Titans to overhaul them.

At the conclusion, the top three teams were separated by only 17 points; after racking up over 7700 between them in this 15th season of outdoor winter bowls.

Results for Sunday, February 28: Bits n Bobs 89 (1) Mean Machine 120 (5), Mean Machine 126 (6) Louie’s Angels 91 (0), Louie’s Angels 119 (5) Bits n Bobs 88 (1).

Receiving the Derek Killey Memorial Trophy as overall merit winner was Glynn Hargraves (Mean Machine), winning it for the third time, repeating his success in 2005 and 2013.

Second place went to Jenny Moore (Mooragh Lakers), next came Mike Thomas (Parkers), Alan Moore and Stefan Kelly (both Meanies), with Rob Monk (Lakers) making up the top six.

Other team merit winners, who will hopefully be appearing in the Rest team when they take on the champions at the Club’s final event on Sunday, March 20, are: Margy Tasker (Angels), Derek Allen (Porters), Nigel Thomas (Seven-Up), Rosie Winckle (Bowl Rollers), Doug Allan (Govags), Tom Collins (Bits n Bobs) and John Alderson (Cannons).

Two more to be confirmed are Titans, being led by Lyn Bolton and Castletown Corkers, for which Rob Sayle is the current leader.

Entries are still open for the club championship, which will be held on Saturday, March 12, but in the meantime the first weekend round robin for a few months will take place this Sunday at 1pm.

The regular midweek session attracted an entry of 32 and was split into two gangs. In the doubles Barbara Young and Roma Ware were victorious, just ahead of Mike Skelly and Derek Allen.

Triples were on the agenda for the remainder and Derek Clarke, Jean Thackrah and Shirley Corrin led them home, with second place going to Lil Smith, Pauline Worrall and Ken Clarke.

The race for the title in the Manx Petroleum sponsored Outdoor Winter League Bowling Club was thrown on its head after the latest weekend of action – or in one case a lack of it.

Players arrived at the venue on Saturday to a surface with some wet patches, but with the weather forecast showing it to clear up, the games were started, but not before one of the teams decided not to participate due to the conditions.

Castletown Cannons headed home without playing and under the impression that if possible their games would be re-scheduled at a later date. This situation has yet to be resolved.

So let’s assume the two games will be played at some point before the end of the season and report on how things panned out over the two days.

On a green that was improving all the time, the top two sides went head to head and the victors were in no mood to let go of their crown, as Mean Machine closed the points deficit on leaders Seven-Up by 16 and put themselves back in the race, trailing by just seven.

Things then went from bad to worse for Seven-Up as they could only record a total of 104 against Louie’s Angels, who themselves dropped only six points in their own little battle to hold on to fourth.

So on averages at the end of Saturday, the Meanies had leap-frogged their rivals onto 116.4, compared to 116 for Sevens, however there was another session to follow 24 hours later…

When I arrived on Sunday, things were already on the move to get play started, which was perhaps a little surprising, having left a very wet north of the Island.

Play did get underway on time, only for the rain to hit Douglas not too long into the afternoon and turn the playing surface into a rather large puddle.

I now realise why Mooragh Lakers play under this team name, as they splashed their way through the water to two maximums and as a result, head the table on an average of 116.7 – well for a few days at least.

With their campaign over they await the four or possibly five results to be settled by the two sides directly behind them.

Also completing their schedule were Erin Porters and they also hit a 126 to take the total so far to 16 and in doing so hold on to sixth spot, squashed between Titans and Parkers.

Bowl Rollers were also competing and began with victory against Bits n Bobs, before going down to the Lakers, therefore finishing with an average just over 100 points, however Bits n Bobs slipped down a position behind Govags, not helped by them being a player short.

Results for Saturday, February 20: Mean Machine 117 (5) Seven-Up 101 (1), Seven-Up 104 (2) Louie’s Angels 120 (4). Two outstanding fixtures: Angels and Mean Machine versus Castletown Cannons.

Results for Sunday, February 21: Bowl Rollers 114 (4) Bits n Bobs 79 (2), Erin Porters 87 (0) Mooragh Lakers 126 (6), Bits n Bobs 64 (0) Erin Porters 126 (6), Mooragh Lakers 126 (6) Bowl Rollers 66 (0).

One thing decided was the destination of the Geoff Osborn memorial trophy, which was retained by Jenny Moore (Lakers), she cannot be caught by nearest rival Lyn Bolton (Titans), and will finish no worse than second in the overall standings, which is being led by Glynn Hargraves (Mean Machine).

Also confirmed in the top three is Mike Thomas (Parkers) and still looking for fourth is Alan Moore (Meanies), followed closely by teammate Stefan Kelly, the leading junior.

The midweek round robin enjoyed slightly better conditions and attracted an entry of 24, split into two groups of doubles, Terry Bates/Sylvia Kennaugh and John Lightfoot/Jordan Cain being the victors.

Just missing out in second were Derek Clarke/Mike Ware and Derek Allen/Tricia Bull.

With just four fixtures left apiece, the top two in the Manx Petroleum sponsored Outdoor Winter League Bowling Club are separated by 23 points, but second placed Mean Machine missed out on a chance to narrow that gap last weekend.

They kicked-off in a re-arranged set of games with a score of 116 against Parkers, which was close to their average, but then dropped 16 playing the second from bottom outfit, Castletown Corkers, to make it 26 in total and slipped further behind.

They now go into this Saturday’s clash with leaders Seven-Up needing to beat them comprehensively to stand any chance of retaining the title.

Hats off to Corkers, having suffered a six games to nil loss in their first outing against Parkers, they battled hard against the Meanies to win two games and remain one place off the bottom, just ahead of stablemates Castletown Cannons.

Parkers were in action both days and completed their league programme on Sunday with two disappointing results and as a consequence now occupy seventh position having got within 0.2 of fifth placed Erin Porters 24 hours earlier.

In the opener they lost out by nine points to Titans, a side just behind them in the standings, but then surprisingly were beaten by Govags who were five places back and will have to settle for a spot outside the top six.

Titans meanwhile backed up their first success, with the season’s 15th maximum win, achieved whilst playing the westerners and in turn jumped ahead of Porters by the slender advantage of two points.

As is usually the case in a three-team afternoon, the outfit taking to the green for the first time against opponents who have already played, take a little longer to get accustomed to the conditions – a situation that occurred twice this weekend as they both suffered maximum defeats.

Results for Saturday, February 13: Mean Machine 116 (5) Parkers 98 (1), Parkers 126 (6) Castletown Corkers 79 (0), Castletown Corkers 83 (2) Mean Machine 110 (4).

Results for Sunday, February 14: Parkers 103 (2) Titans 112 (4), Titans 126 (6) Govags 98 (0), Govags 118 (4) Parkers 95 (2).

Following are the merit leaders at present, with three of them having lost recently. Averages listed are from the amount of points scored, divided by the number of games played by the teams, rather than the individuals.

1, Glynn Hargraves, M.Machine (played 18)20.8; 2, Jenny Moore, M.Lakers (20) 20.5; 3, Stefan Kelly, M.Machine (18) 20.2; 4, Mike Thomas, Parkers (22) 20.1; 5, Robert Monk, M.Lakers (20) 19.9; 6, Alan Moore, M.Machine (18) 19.9; 7, Lyn Bolton, Titans (20) 19.7; 8, Adrian Skinner, M.Lakers, 20, 19.5; 9, Nigel Thomas, Seven-Up (18) 19.4; 10, Margaret Tasker, L.Angels (18) 19.1; 11, Steve Parker, M.Lakers (20) 19; 12, James Teare, M.Lakers (20) 19; 13, Rob Cowley, Parkers (22) 18.9; 14, Rosie Winckle, Bowl Rollers (20) 18.7; 15, Derek Allen, Erin Porters (20) 18.6.

These 15 include the Parkers merit winner, along with seven of the other team leaders, with the remaining four being Dougie Allan, Govags; Tom Collins, Bits n Bobs, John Alderson, Castletown Cannons and Rob Sayle just ahead of Tracy Moore for the Corkers.

The Club Championship entries are still being taken at Nobles No.3, but for anyone who wishes to compete, but will not be able to get their name down on the sheet, they can enter via email to [email protected].

Rob Cowley and Alan Moore were the doubles section winners at the midweek round robin, ahead of Derek Kneen and Stefan Kelly, with third spot going to Roy Moore and Philippa Taylor.

Winning the other section, which was played as triples, were Ken Clarke, Erwin Gelling and Margie Tasker; in second it was Bernard Thackrah, Bert Quayle and Peter Kelly, while in third it was Joy Stevens, Roma Ware and Glen Boland.

Just a few days after getting back on track, along came another extremely wet Saturday, which put paid to a set of fixtures in the Manx Petroleum sponsored Outdoor Winter League Bowling Club.

Things weren’t much better the following day either, with strong winds and heavy rain which arrived about three quarters of the way through, but not before leaders Seven-Up notched up their fourth and the season’s 13^th maximum.

This was achieved against Bowl Rollers who themselves struggled to a total of 87.

Also in action were bottom team Castletown Cannons and a team on the up – Erin Porters.

Cannons couldn’t manage to reach their average and finished on just 81, whereas Porters dropped only one chalk as they hit their highest score of the campaign, and moved up another place in the table.

Bowl Rollers recovered from their earlier loss and were just two points away from recording their first full house, when they inflicted a second heavy defeat on opponents Cannons.

However the biggest surprise of the day was yet to come, as the top team Seven-Up lost for only the second time when Erin Porters beat them by seven points and in turn the leader’s average dropped a little.

This result will give second placed Mean Machine a bit of hope, as they were one of the teams who did not get a game on Saturday and will try again this weekend to bridge that gap – unless the weather has other ideas.

Porters meanwhile may have left it a little bit late to break into the top four as they have only one session remaining, but will fight to the end to hang onto fifth spot.

Results for Sunday, February 7: Seven-Up 126 (6) Bowl Rollers 87 (0), Castletown Cannons 81 (1) Erin Porters 125 (5), Erin Porters 109 (3) Seven-Up 102 (3), Bowl Rollers 124 (5) Castletown Cannons 74 (1).

Triples was the order of the day as 33 entrants took part in the midweek round robin and Doug Allan, along with Lynda and Jeff Wilson from the Govags were partnered together to win their group ahead of David Galbraith, Derek Allen and Erwin Gelling.

It was all about the girls in the other section as Philippa Taylor, Joy Stephens and Dot Mylchreest were the victors, just ahead of Jean Thackrah, Roma Ware and Tricia Bull.

The league programme in the Manx Petroleum sponsored Outdoor Winter League Bowling Club is back on schedule after a set of fixtures, which had been postponed previously, went ahead at the third attempt.

Two of the teams participated on both days and as it turned out for Erin Porters and Bowl Rollers, completely different weather-wise – first one dry, snow showers and a bitterly cold wind, then on Sunday heavy rain.

The wet conditions not helped by the fact that the roof of the shelter was destroyed earlier in the week by storm Jonas, an event, which meant the cancellation of the midweek round robin, whilst the damaged sections were cleared away.

Erin Porters were involved in three close encounters, two of which went in their favour and all points gained helped in them moving up one position in the table.

All in all it turned out to be a mixed bag of results for the southerners after they lost both clashes on Saturday, before winning twice the following day.

Three points was the margin when they missed out to Mooragh Lakers, both scoring good totals, but then surprisingly they went down by 12 against Bits n Bobs who had earlier lost to Bowl Rollers.

Twenty-four hours later Porters were pushed all the way by Govags, but came through by seven points and they followed this up with a great win over Titans, 118-112. A score, which saw them move above their opponents in the standings.

Bowl Rollers also had an up and down weekend, they improved their average on the first day, but saw it drop down after the Sunday session, ending lower than before the opening fixtures.

Mooragh Lakers meanwhile consolidated third spot, being one of a number of sides who saw their average climb, Govags with an increase of 2.4 were best, followed by Bits n Bobs 1.4, Porters 1.1 and Titans just 0.5.

This leaves the teams in fourth to seventh separated by only 30 points and leading the gang are Louie’s Angels on 2003, next come Parkers 1980, Porters just five adrift on 1975 and a further two back are Titans on 1973.

Results for Saturday, January 30: Bits n Bobs 99 (1) Bowl Rollers 120 (5), Mooragh Lakers 119 (4) Erin Porters 116 (2), Erin Porters 107 (3) Bits n Bobs 119 (3), Bowl Rollers 98 (1) Mooragh Lakers 115 (5).

Results for Sunday, January 31: Bowl Rollers 93 (2) Titans 115 (4), Erin Porters 114 (3) Govags 107 (3), Titans 112 (2) Erin Porters 118 (4), Govags 116 (4) Bowl Rollers 90 (2).

The top 12 individuals in the running for the Derek Killey memorial trophy are as follows, the positions are based on the average points in brackets calculated from the amount of games played by their teams:

1,Glynn Hargraves, Mean Machine332 points (20.8); 2,Alan Moore, M.Machine329 (20.6); 3,Jenny Moore, Lakers410 (20.5); 4,Mike Thomas, Parkers365 (20.3); 5,Stefan Kelly, M.Machine321 (20.1); 6,Nigel Thomas, Seven-Up 319 (19.9); 7,Robert Monk, Lakers398 (19.9); 8,Lyn Bolton, Titans 352(19.6); 9,Adrian Skinner, Lakers 389(19.5); 10, Margie Tasker, Louie’s Angels344 (19.1); 11,Steve Parker, Lakers 380(19); 12,James Teare, Lakers 380(19); 13, Rosie Winckle, Rollers 332(18.4); 14,Rob Cowley, Parkers 331(18.4); 15,Derek Allen, Porters 330(18.3).

As you can see the overall title is between a number of players, whereas in the lead for the Geoff Osborn memorial trophy, awarded to the top lady, is the current holder Jenny Moore, followed by Lyn Bolton, Margie Tasker and Rosie Winckle.

Leaders Seven-Up extended their advantage at the top of the table in the Manx Petroleum sponsored Outdoor Winter League Bowling Club after they racked up the season’s twelfth maximum against the bottom side, whilst nearest rivals Mean Machine had to battle against the two teams directly behind.

Both now have six fixtures left, but if Seven-Up are to wrestle the title away from the seven time champions they will need to improve their scores from the first time around against their remaining opponents.

The gap is currently 21 points, however looking back, Mean Machine scored 25 more than their rivals in the corresponding games. I will stick my neck out and go for the current leaders to hold on, simply because they have a stronger squad which will help them over the line.

Last weekend’s action began on the first dry Saturday afternoon for quite some time and saw Seven-Up easily overcome a Titans outfit who are hanging on to a top six position.

This was the first of two three-team sessions, which involve one side sitting out the first clash and this clearly did not help basement side Castletown Cannons who faced Seven-Up in the second encounter, they being fresh onto the field of play.

The Cannons did fare a little better in the final clash when they took one game of Titans and went close in two others, but the outcome saw three losing scores for the day all in the 80s.

Results for Saturday, January 23: Titans 87 (1) Seven-Up 115 (5), Seven-Up 126 (6) Castletown Cannons 83 (0), Castletown Cannons 86 (1) Titans 117 (5).

Sunday’s participants were teams occupying second to fourth positions in the table and they all saw their averages slip without any positional changes.

Opening it was Mean Machine (second) against Mooragh Lakers (third), with the result a fairly close victory to the Meanies as they gained revenge for their only loss so far.

Next up Louie’s Angels had to take on a side who were warmed up so to speak and even though they won two games, Mean Machine finished with a 19 point advantage.

With the mist rolling around the Park it was fairly dark when the final 12 players took to the green and battled out a draw on points as the Angels recorded a much-needed 117 to keep them just ahead of Parkers.

Results for Sunday, January 24: Mean Machine 112 (3) Mooragh Lakers 106 (3), Louie’s Angels 93 (2) Mean Machine 112 (4), Mooragh Lakers 117 (4) Louie’s Angels 117 (2).

A group of 37 enjoyed the good conditions for the midweek round robin, but a harsh lesson was learned at the conclusion, as some teams had not entered scores, which possibly cost them victory.

The top two triples were eventually settled by a roll-up, which went in favour of Mike Skelly/Jeff Wilson/Peter Kelly; just missing out were Allan Kennaugh/Terry Bates/Alec Taylor, with third spot being occupied by Roy Moore/Erwin Gelling/Alan Phair.

No such problems in the doubles where Derek Clarke and Derek Allen romped to first place ahead of John Lightfoot/Jean Thackrah and Doug Allan/Tricia Bull.

This Saturday there is a set of fixtures originally scheduled for early December and again attempted in January, let’s hope it is third time lucky for Bits n Bobs, Bowl Rollers, Mooragh Lakers and Erin Porters.

It was all change at the top after yet another very wet weekend in the Manx Petroleum sponsored Outdoor Winter League Bowling Club which had three scores falling just short of the season’s 12^th maximum.

Two of them resulted in new leaders, as Seven-Up took over at the summit of the table on an average of 117.6, which is 0.2 ahead of Mean Machine.

Sevens kicked-off the session with a comfortable success against Bits n Bobs, before overcoming Mooragh Lakers who had started the afternoon in second spot and were in a good run of form.

Lakers themselves had earlier defeated basement side Castletown Cannons who also lost out in their second encounter against Bits n Bobs.

Results for Saturday, January 16: Bits n Bobs 92 (1) Seven-Up 125 (5), Mooragh Lakers 124 (5) Castletown Cannons 81 (1), Seven-Up 125 (5) Mooragh Lakers 104 (1), Castletown Cannons 92 (2) Bits n Bobs 116 (4).

Parkers took an opportunity on Sunday to close the gap on the side directly above them and after scores of 117, against Bowl Rollers, and 121 whilst beating Erin Porters, they are now level with Titans on an average of 110.

The two remaining results saw Porters maintain their position just behind the leading six with a four games to two victory, while Bowl Rollers came within millimetres of recording their first maximum win, both played Castletown Corkers.

In the very last game on the green, Rollers player Sylvia Kennaugh measured for victory, but the decision went in favour of opponent Byron Mercer, who then went on to win the last end and secure his first winter league success and deny Bowl Rollers in the process.

Results for Sunday, January 17: Bowl Rollers 102 (2) Parkers 117 (4), Erin Porters 114 (4) Castletown Corkers 97 (2), Parkers 121 (5) Erin Porters 101 (1), Castletown Corkers 89 (1) Bowl Rollers 125 (5).

I think we can all guess what the conditions were like for the midweek round robin, but nevertheless an entry of 24 was split into two groups of doubles, each winning duo having a member of the Callister family – Rita, being partnered by Alec Taylor and Louis, making a rare outing was supported by Derek Clarke.

Finishing in second were Roy Moore/Sylvia Kennaugh and Shirley Whelan/Mike Ware; whilst third spots went to Mike Skelly/Derek Allen and Doug Allan/Tricia Bull.

The first full weekend of action in 2016 took place in the Manx Petroleum sponsored Outdoor Winter League Bowling Club and saw a first defeat for the merit leader, the season’s 11th maximum score line and three positional changes in the table.

Another very wet morning didn’t help the conditions on Saturday and it was perhaps fitting that Lakers were the team to take advantage, carrying on where they left off before the festive break.

First up they beat Castletown Corkers and notched up 119 points in the process; next they just missed out on a full house with success against Parkers.

There was also a very good win in this session for Bits n Bobs when they dropped just three chalks against Corkers, who as a result saw their average slip.

Parkers won the other outcome from this group, but also saw their average fall and as a consequence of their loss slipped down a position to sixth.

Lakers meanwhile moved in the opposite direction and took over second spot from Seven-Up by the slender margin of 0.01 off a point – which equates to them both now about 13 behind the leaders.

Results for Saturday, January 9: Parkers 120 (5) Bits n Bobs 94 (1), Castletown Corkers 83 (1) Mooragh Lakers 119 (5), Mooragh Lakers 125 (5) Parkers 85 (1), Bits n Bobs 123 (4) Castletown Corkers 95 (2).

There were three different winners on the second day also, with top outfit Mean Machine beginning with a close success over Titans, before racking up the campaign’s eleventh maximum victory when they took on Govags.

It wasn’t all good news for the leaders, however, when Glynn Hargraves, the last undefeated player in the merit table, was beaten 21-17 by Lyn Bolton (Titans).

He still heads the list for the Derek Killey memorial trophy on an average of 20.7, but is now only three points ahead of teammate Alan Moore and a further one behind comes Stefan Kelly, also Mean Machine.

Two more players are averaging 20 plus, in fourth is the leading woman, Jenny Moore (Moorage Lakers), closely followed by Mike Thomas (Parkers).

Making up the top ten are Rob Monk (Lakers), Nigel Thomas (Seven-Up), Adrian Skinner, Steve Parker (both Lakers) and Margy Tasker (Angels).

Back to the action where Govags began the afternoon with only their second win, achieved when they overcame fourth placed Louie’s Angels and as a result of their efforts the westerners moved out of the bottom two.

Titans meanwhile proved they have the capability to upset any side on their day and inflicted a heavy defeat on Angels, who after two defeats slipped further behind the top three and now have a tough ask to bridge that gap.

Results for Sunday, January 10: Mean Machine 111 (3) Titans 100 (3), Louie’s Angels 111 (3) Govags 113 (3), Titans 124 (5) Louie’s Angels 89 (1), Govags 79 (0) Mean Machine 126 (6).

A rare dry afternoon had 34 entrants compete in the midweek round robin with the pairing of Derek Clarke and John Lightfoot topping their group ahead of Bernard Thackrah and Alec Taylor, while in third it was Philippa Taylor and Ken Clarke.

The trio of James Teare, Derek Allen and Doug Allan won the other gang, with second going to Peter Kelly, Rob Cowley and David Clucas, just ahead of Allan Kennaugh, Jean Thackrah and Terry Bates.