Dawlish and District Indoor Bowls (DIBC) hosted their first ever Open Singles Competions at the club on Sunday 16th February, attracting a number of top players from the local area to come along and compete.
These regular events, organised in conjunction with Riviera Bowls Competitions, are taking part at many indoor bowls clubs throughout the season, but this was the first time for DIBC to host one.
The main aim for players is to win the prize money of course but they also gain points towards an end of the season final – where an overall winner will be crowned!
Due to the high demand for entry to theirs, DIBC decided to hold two consecutive comps in one day. One was held during the morning, the second event in the afternoon.
To keep everyone fed and watered throughout, the committee had arranged for there to be food and drink available for everybody to purchase. A big thank you goes to all the volunteers on the day, both those involved with the catering, as well as those ensuring everything ran smoothly!
Both events were played in a round robin format, the winners from the group stages then competing for the prize money in a round robin finale.
The morning round robin final featured local talent Marc Baker, along with Will “Shakin“ Stevens and Graham Goodyer (both from Torquay United Indoor Bowls Club). Unfortunately the other DIBC competitors, Fred Baker and Lee Woolridge, were both eliminated in the group stages.
The final match pitted together Marc and Will, which resulted in a very close encounter indeed. The scores were locked on 4-4 with one end left to play. The final end finished with a measure, Marc securing 1 point, and thus the winner of today’s event.
As soon as the morning event had finished it was straight into the afternoon event. This time DIBC had representatives in Mike Ferguson and Dave Chappell, but unfortunately they both got knocked out in the group stages.
The round robin final was between Wideload, Graham Goodyer and Will Stevens. Although coming second in the morning event Will made amends by winning the afternoon event. In second place was Simon, with Wideload third.
Following today’s results, a first place and a second, Will Stevens has shot up in the rankings to number 12, with Marc Baker up to number 35 after winning his first event.
Well done to all the competitors, especially those entering for the first time. For those interested in entering further competitions, there are still 7 comps left this season across the area. So, there’s still plenty of time to make it into the top 24 and the overall final. See Riviera Bowls Competitions for more details.
Based on a very successful first day of events, Dawlish and District Indoor Bowls Club aim to hold many more events in the years to come.
Here are the current standings:-
