Weekly Region Wrap: West Coast Bowls Region
West Coast Bowls Region stretches across the beautiful areas of the Great Ocean Road, Grampians and Far South West of Victoria encompassing 35 bowls clubs. The region is home to three playing areas – Corangamite, Far Western and Western District.
Clubs in the region include Apollo Bay, Colac, Winchelsea, Portland, Dennington, Koroit and City Memorial Bowls Club Warrnambool. The region is also home to the Under 18s squad the West Coast Wizards that produces incredible young talented bowlers. Due to the climate, the region is best known for their slower, sand-filled synthetic greens.
The Western District Div 1 comp is a tight contest of 12 teams from 10 clubs. Bryan Sheehan Skips the City Memorial Warrnambool Red side who are sitting top of the ladder heading into Round 12 this weekend. Close behind is Warrnambool Gold, Portland Memorial and narrowly holding 4th is Mortlake Blue.
“Western District playing area is a pretty strong competition. It’s quite close. Every game is decided by only a few shots. Since, since we went from four rinks to three, and then we went from 25 ends to 21 ends the whole competition got tighter,” Bryan tells BV.
“We have two teams in Div 1. Our top team has won the last two premierships and our second team predominantly make the four or just miss out. Like I said, it’s pretty tight, so it’s just a matter of booking your spot, and then it’s all on the day for the finals.”
Next week the club will host its 37th annual Des Notley Memorial Classic Pairs, one of the biggest tournaments in January. The club will see bowlers from across the state travel to compete for the $10k prize pool and flex their skills ahead of pennant finals.
City Memorial Bowls Club are hoping to go back-to-back as Div 1 premiers for the third year in a row, despite increasingly tough competition. What should oppositions know before facing City Memorial?
“I don’t want to give away our secrets, but I think they know they’re going to have a tough time. We have no stars, we’re just solid across the three rinks.”
The Weekly Region Wrap is a new weekly feature of Regional Victorian Pennant. If you have an interesting region story and photo, please send it to cooper@bowlsvic.org.au
