Club member Ian Page went all the way in the men’s tournament, held in late May, winning the final at Barham Bowling Club on Tuesday, May 26.
“I'm pretty excited, really,” Page said.
“You go into those events, and you hope to do well, but I probably achieved greater heights than I expected.”
It was a long road to reach the final, with almost 300 players across 91 sections starting out the competition across Victoria.
In fact, Page’s tournament almost ended as quickly as he began, the Echuca bowler coming within a shot of dropping his first section match, in what would have been a death blow to his chances of qualifying for the knockouts.
Warrnambool opponent Stephen Mitchell led 20-18 in the first-to-21 format, with Page facing elimination but scoring one shot in three straight ends to escape 21-20.
“That was probably the toughest game that I had, the first one in the sectional play, and I managed to get over that,” Page said.
“(Mitchell's) a fairly well credentialed bowler from down at Warrnambool.
“It was played in great spirits and I guess I got lucky and got through, and from there on it was head down and keep going.”
Winning his other match in sectional play earned Page a spot among the final 91, one qualifier in each section.
His close results in the sectional stage didn’t afford the Echuca representative a first-round bye, meaning he had seven knockout games to negotiate on the way to the championship.
A key roadblock was in the quarter-finals, where Page faced off with the player who had ousted him the previous year, City Memorial’s David Wells, but he was able to get the early jump and build a 14-3 lead before closing out the match 21-11.
Page continued his hot form into the semi-final, leading 17-1 at one stage against Dandenong opponent John Curtain before again prevailing 21-11.
It led him to an all-Goulburn Valley final against Shepparton Park’s Ross Higgins.
A slower start from Page gave Higgins an 8-3 advantage, but the Echuca bowler would win five of the next six ends, adding nine shots to one to seize control, then winning seven of the last eight to claim the trophy 21-14.
Page intends to have his winner’s medal on display at the Echuca Bowls Club, the new over-60s champion saying he has found team success a little sweeter than even a win as big as this.
“It's obviously a fairly big achievement, but I think the excitement of winning the (weekend) pennant last year, winning the divisions one and two and what it brought to the club and the excitement (tops it),” he said.
Page has earned a place in the Victorian over-60s training squad, one of 24 players battling for 16 places in the state team.
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