The Men’s Champ triples and the Women’s Champ pairs were held over the weekend.

The weather was fine but again gusty winds prevailed over both days.

The men had ten teams entered and the women eight teams.

The men played on Knightsbridge, which was running quite quickly and the women played on Mayfair.

Sunday, all finals were played on Knightsbridge.

Two winners and three winners qualified for the finals.

In section play, Phill Chisholm, David Payne, and Bruce McClintock had three wins.

Ian Coombe, Brian Rogers and John Valentine had two wins and did not play their third as did Leon Wech, John Gledhill and Gerry Strydom.

The fourth qualifier was Larry Cain, David Lloyd and Stuart Jamieson with two wins.

Leon played Phill in one semi-final and Ian Coombe played Larry Cain in the other.

Phill’s team raced away to a big lead, leading 12-1 after eight ends. Bruce and David were leading very well but Gerry, John and Leon were not far away, just not quite close enough.

Leon’s team won seven of the last ten ends but Phill’s team held on to win 16-14.

Similar in the other semi- final with Ian’s  leading 9-1 after four ends, Larry’s team came back, it was ten all after eight ends, but Ian won seven of the last nine ends to win 20-13.

The final was a bit one sided unfortunately, Phill, David and Bruce running out the winners 24-9 after fifteen ends played.

They played extremely good bowls and did not allow Ian’s team to get into the game.

Well done Phill Chisholm, David Payne and Bruce McClintock, 2024/25 Men’s triples champions.

In the women’s, same as the men there were only four qualifiers after section play.

A big surprize was Sheryl Wellington and Theresa Rogers, who lost their first two games and failed to qualify.

One of those losses was to the Chhour’s, mother and daughter, their only win and they played really well, but ended up losing to Elaine and Kerin on the last end 15-17 and also lost to Judi and Rosemary 18-20 in their last game.

The big star for the women was Helen Aley, who has found a new lease of life with a couple of new knees and one new hip, and a bowling arm, one of the shortest I have seen.

She bowled consistently well in that difficult wind and had numerous touches.

Playing with Rachel Long they won their first game but lost their next two in close games against two of the top teams.

Well done Helen.

The semi-finals were Gaye Horne and Joy Watkinson v Judi Farkash and Rosemary Nicol and Jan Gledhill and Collen Rice v Elaine McClintock and Kerin Roberts.

Gaye had beaten Judi in the first game on Saturday 20-14 after getting a big lead.

The semi was a different game, with Rosemary bowling really well and Judi playing with good control. They took the lead early and kept the pressure on Gaye and Joy to win 17-10.

In the second semi-final, it was a replay of their section game in which Elaine and Kerin just kept up the pressure. Elaine won that game 20-14, Jan and Colleen were always in that game but could not finish it off.

A similar result in the semi, Jan and Colleen had their chances but Elaine and Kerin were too consistent winning 18-10.

So to the final,  Elaine and Kerin started really well and got to a good lead, Rosemary found her line and weight, but Elaine and Kerin again were far too good to win convincingly 23-9.

Rosemary did bowl very well, despite the score.

Congratulations Elaine McClintock and Kerin Roberts, 2024/25 Women Pairs Champions.