Meanies make it eight titles
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.