Australian Open Update #2- Sectional Week Complete

It’s been a few days since we updated our LBNS followers, so here is a bit of what’s been going on as sectional week at the Australian Open wrapped up on Friday and we made our way into Week 2 of competition (there’s lots of content- so I’ll have to split this into a few posts):

Men’s Singles- My Men’s Singles section at Benowa was quite an interesting one as I faced 3 young guys from all over Australia. Overall, I put in some decent bowls considering how quick we got on the greens here- but the others were just way too consistent. Learned a lot though to go into the next competitions.

On sectional Sunday, we had a rare first week off day for both my mom and I- so we got to head to Paradise Country wildlife sanctuary to visit our friends the kangaroos and koalas! They have a fun breakfast event where they teach you all about the koalas- which we’ve enjoyed every year we’ve been down here.

Women’s Pairs- Mom and her partner Karen Curtis from South Australia played their section down at the Tugun Bowls Club on the southern part of the Gold Coast. It’s always a highlight as the greens are in the landing path for Coolangatta Airport (the main airport serving southeast Queensland outside of Brisbane. Overall, it was a interesting section, where mom and Karen gave all 3 teams a good run for their money as they took a former AO Pairs winner to the limit (lost by 4 or 5 points within the last few ends) and got a strong win in game 2.

Men’s Pairs- Tuesday sent me and my teammate Chris (who I’ve played with for the past 3 AO’s) to familiar ground at Mudgeeraba Bowls Club on the interior of the Gold Coast for our sectional rounds. It was probably the best I felt bowling here in eons- as we went 1-1-1 with all 3 games being extremely competitive and in 2 of them- right down to the last shot!

Women’s Singles- Next discipline was the Women’s Singles as mom headed up to the amazing facility at Club Helensvale. They just finished a multi-million dollar renovation to add a new covered synthetic- which my mom was excited to play on. The day had some challenges- but she learned a lot playing against some talented players from across the Oceania region.

Men’s Fours- Thursday sent us back to Mudgeeraba again for a great day on the greens with the Men’s Fours as Chris and I were joined by Lindsay Paterson (a great guy from Adelaide that was also looking to play in the event many months ago when we were looking) and longtime British Columbia representative Earl Luk. It was an excellent day for all of us as we really worked well as a team and it showed on the scoreboard as we won 2 great games against top sides from here in Australia and had the 3rd game for the section go right to the last bowl. Overall, I was super proud of how we all played- especially as I hadn’t skipped a side here since 2017 when our Nova Scotian friends Keith Finck and Bill Wesley joined us here.

Women’s Fours- Our final Week 1 events sent us down to Coolangatta Bowls Club on the far side of the Gold Coast for mom’s Women’s Fours section as her and Karen were joined by Joyce and Dawn (both from South Australia). It was an interesting day- as they got a convincing win against a former AO Pairs winner (playing with multiple current and former Queensland reps) and took 10 points off of the favourites on paper to win the whole thing. Overall a great day!

Mixed Pairs- One of the popular events of the AO is the Mixed Pairs- which due to simply the vast amount of entries in the main event has been a support event on the Sunday of Week 2. It’s been insanely popular- as Bowls Australia said they filled up the two venues at Musgrave Hill and Robina in under a day (84 teams plus a wait list of at least that!). We played at Club Robina and had a fun day even if it didn’t end up showing on the scoreboard. It was nice to meet the teams we did and have some fun!
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We also had some other weekend fun- including the Mega Bowl Singles- where they had 128 players in a fun one bowl singles shootout for a pile of cash! Also got to cheer on our friends in a bunch of different spots around the Gold Coast and do a bit of commentary with Bowls Australia’s Rinkside Live coverage. As we get started with week 2, we’ll be competing a bit more in a few spots along with cheering on our fellow Canadians along the way as we head towards finals on Thursday and Friday of this week. Thanks to all of you back home for the support as we compete down here in this amazing event. Looking forward to sharing even more stuff (both photo and video) on our adventures).