Conditions couldn’t have been better on Monday March 20 for the 2023 Blue Pacific Fours, as 24 teams from Yamba and surrounds took to the green – all with hopes to take home a piece of the generous prizemoney on offer. It was an early start for the first two 12 end games of the competition with the third and final game to be played in the afternoon.
There were some good wins in the morning games, but it was local Carol Ritale and her team who held poll position on the scoreboard as players took the lunch break.
Back in the cool of the Club players enjoyed a sumptuous hot and cold buffet lunch provided by Mark and his team from the Bowlo Bistro. Tables were tastefully decorated by master decorator Julie Coulter (ably assisted by daughter Lucy).
Appetites sated, it was back to the greens for the final and deciding game of the day – luckily with a lovely Yamba breeze to keep things a little cooler.
Many tired bodies were happy to finish the day off with a cool drink and snacks provided by the Social Committee and settle in for the drawing of the money board and also hoping to win one of many raffle prizes on offer (hearty thanks to all those who donated prizes). And to Sue and Jeanette who manned the tills for these. Also, on the day there was a trading table with wonderful baked goods, craft and plants donated by many of our members – heartfelt thanks to all of you.
After all the scores had been tallied – the time came to announce the outright winners. Congratulations go to the Ballina team of V. Maxwell, K. Albany, K. Huett and E. Reid who took out first prize presented to them by President of YBRC Ian Lauder and another of our sponsors – Tina Young from Simplicity Funerals.
In second place it was the Iluka team of G. Wakefield, L. Briggs, R. Duncan and M. Swan. Third place went to a composite team with M. King, E. Whitford, F. Butcher and C. Nixon and fourth place went to S, Youlten, M. Grimes, C. Byrum and J. Parkes from Maclean.
Three Round winners were presented with their prizes by Tina Young. In the first game it was E. Bosworth, A. O’Brien, A. Matthews and S. Skennar from Ballina who attained the highest margin for that round – Second Round went to – G. Marazan, K. Robson, B. Montague and T. Cseika from Evans Head and Third Round – S. Willis, D. Grevert, B. Frame and E. Tindall from Sawtell who each scored the highest margin for the respective rounds. Congratulations to all of these players.
In a wrap-up of this year’s Blue Pacific Fours credit must be paid to Bowls Co-ordinator Glen Dickson who as Controlling Body and Scorer – kept the day running smoothly as did Administrator Maggie Jenner and Robyn McPherson from Match in the run-up to the day.
And as always, a huge thank-you to our sponsors without whom there would be no generous prize pool. Thanks to YBRC – always there for us on these special days and to McDonald’s -a loyal sponsor for many years. A new sponsor – Simplicity Funerals represented by the lovely Tina Young who came along for the day with us, presenting trophies and providing us with informative promotional material.
We are grateful for our hardworking Social Committee along with helpers Roz and Maz – making sure players were fed and refreshed from morning tea till the end of the day.
And thanks go to the Umpires for giving up your time to see the games run smoothly.
And as always thanks to our wonderful greenkeepers – Graham, Nathan and Tony – for those great playing surfaces.
Most of all thanks to all who attended – some of you travelling many k’s to take part. We hope you enjoyed your day and as the saying goes – “ÿoáll come back now”.
On Shot