The inaugural $20,000 Mike Stevenson Memorial Fours Championships was held at his beloved Kawana Thunder Bowls Club last weekend.
The championship was patronised by numerous Australian, international and state players, providing a field of talented bowlers never seen on the Sunshine Coast before.
Leading the way was Aaron Sheriff, who has been one of the best in Australian and world events during the past decade.
Kawana Bowls club announced that the championship would continue for at least another three years.
Following that announcement, top interstate and Queensland players are now scrambling for positions in next year’s field of 28 teams.
The 112 players participated in brilliant weather and on top-class greens and they played high-quality games, with some outstanding performances provided by the six winning rinks.
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Teams were of all ages. One team had an average age of under 21, skipped by Belmont’s Jacob Nelson.
Included in his team was the legendary Scotty De Jongh from the Burleigh club.
The older brigade team of Kerry Flint, Daniel Keogh, Peter Leon and skip Andrew Waddell finished fourth.
The event also had at least five family combined teams, including the popular combination of Alan, Ian and Garry Law.
Kurt Brown, another leading Kawana and Queensland bowler, co-ordinated and promoted the event, while the Kawana club provided hospitality and facilities.
The event was held in memorial to former Mike Stevenson, a long-standing member at the Kawana club who died after a battle with cancer last year, aged 63.
A division 1 and 2 bowler, he also served on committees at the club.
He was also of tremendous help to the club as an information technology expert.
He left a substantial donation to help the bowls club prosper, and some of the money went towards this lucrative event.
“It was something that was stipulated by Mike,” Brown said.
“He wanted this event to go ahead and he wanted Club Kawana to become a powerhouse club in Queensland and we keep moving forward, not only at this club but Sunshine Coast bowls.”
The event’s set to run for at least four years.
Final standings
1st: The team of Ryan Burnett (Kawana), Sean Ingham (Broadbeach), Sean Baker (Victoria Point) and Aaron Sheriff (Helensvale), with prize money of $8000
2nd: Skipped by Kurt Brown (Kawana)
3rd: Skipped by Steven Tong (Helensvale)
4th: Skipped by Andrew Waddell (Burleigh)
5th: Skipped by Ryan Bester (Broadbeach)
6th: Skipped by Jacob Nelson (Belmont).
The writer, Barry Ashby, is district secretary of the Sunshine Coast Bowls Association and a leading Australian bowls official. His column appears each Tuesday in sunshinecoastnews.com.au featuring bowls news and results.
