On Sat 13th April New Earswick & District IBC hosted the Special Olympics Yorkshire & Humberside Regional Indoor Bowls Singles competition. A total of 24 bowlers from, Wakefield(4), hosts York (6) and a 14 strong contingency from Northern region competed across 7 round robin Divisions.
The athletes’ oath was given by City of York bowler Margaret Frost.
We were pleased to welcome Rachael Crack SOGB Competition Development Manager who got to meet many of the athletes and their families.
With many close games it was down to fine margins to split the bowlers in some divisions with one division resulting in 3 players finishing on the same points, 2 of them finishing on same shot difference and the gold being won by the player who scored 1 more shot!! and in another division the gold being decided on the last shot of the last match!!!
New Earswick bowlers representing Special Olympics City of York were successful across the board with gold for Stephen Frost (Div 7), silver for Will Sharman (Div 3) Sam Hinde (Div 4) and Margaret Frost (Div 5) with bronze for
Chris McPherson (Div 1) and Ashley Shaw (Div 6)
Representing Wakefield were Gemma Broadhead (silver Div 1) who started bowing at New Earswick and Ross Bolland (bronze Div 3) who now regularly trains at New Earswick.
Medals were presented by New Earswick IBC Vice President Bill Waldie and Chairman Colin Pickup who were among the 18 club volunteers who provided Umpire and Marking resource throughout the days competition in addition to club staff who laid on a fantastic buffet for all players, delegations and volunteers.
Given that it has been a number of years since City of York have been able to provide a competition, in celebration, a buffet was provided for all athletes, delegations and volunteers thanks to a donation given to COY bowls section by York International Tattoo Convention.
Final word from City of York bowler Chris McPherson who voiced the athletes’ verdict by commandeering the mic and thanking all the volunteers for making the competition possible after such a long layoff.
Following on from their Special Olympics success Chris McPherson, Will Sharman, Gemma Broadhead, and Ross Bolland joined the rest of the England team defending the Munro Cup against Scotland and Wales at the Learning Disability Indoor Bowls International Series, this year hosted by Falkirk IBC.
The team had to settle for silver this year but Will won his singles match and together with Chris and Ross won their triples match.
