Steve Foster (Led) and Brent Jansen (Skip)
Gopala Gowda (Lead), God Folka (CP presenter) and Chris Slade (Skip)
The 2024 Men’s Pairs Yarrow Cup was held September 7-8 at the 101-year-old Canadian Pacific lawn bowling club in downtown Victoria by the inner Harbour. This tournament is one of the most prestigious long-running tournaments in Victoria. The field consisted of 16 teams, definitely the more experienced players on the Island.
All teams played three games on the first day. The top eight were assigned to Flight ‘A’ and the remaining eight to flights ‘B’ and ‘C’. The Canadian Pacific LBC pair of Kevin Burns and Harry Walker were the only team to win all three of their games.
Day two was all knockout games. The ‘A’ flight was reduced to four teams by an early-morning game, and the semi-finals for all three flights began at 11:00 a.m.
Although not as hot as forecasted, it was quite warm and overcast at times allowing for pleasant bowling conditions. This event was well attended, including many spectators.
Both ‘A’ and ‘B’ finals were exciting and displayed high quality bowling.
Chris Slade and Gopala Gowda from OBLBC earned their place in the ‘B’ final by winning the semi-final against the Terlson brothers from Juan de Fuca LBC.
In the final, the two of them put on a clinical bowling performance against David Gardner and Peter Smith of Gordon Head, who conceded after playing 12 ends of the 14-end game with the score standing at 16-6. Well done Gopal and Chris! (Chris was a last-minute replacement for Brent Merchant.)
First place in the “A” division and trophy winner was the pair of Brent Jansen from OBLBC and Steve Foster from GHLBC who played against so-far unbeaten pair Kevin Burns and Harry Walker at their home club. While trailing at the beginning, Brent and Steve elevated their game to take and hold the lead such that their opponents conceded after playing 13 of the 14 ends. So Brent, who has won many other trophies in his bowling career, and had set his heart on winning the Yarrow, was at last rewarded!
As usual, the greens were fast but challenging. Thanks to the Canadian Pacific lawn bowling club, all the volunteers, umpires and tournament organizers for putting on once again a very well-run tournament.