State District Sides – Finals Day
Cunningham and Gold Coast Tweed Rise to the Top
The Division 1 2023 State District Sides Championship was contested at the Coolum Beach Bowls Club on Saturday May 6 after four days of play across the Sunshine Coast region.
The Gold Coast Tweed’s reign on the top spot in the women’s Division 1 place was upstaged by Cunningham which saw the women who came in as runners-up last year defeat the past eight-time champs by a margin of 5 shots in the first game. Cunningham then defeated Tropical Far North QLD and Downs to secure the Val Woodward Perpetual Shield.
It was an emotional win for the ladies from Cunningham with Manager Graham Lewis stating it was a win that was hard earned.
“We’ve been runners-up the last two years and this year we just wanted to go that extra step and we achieved it… I think it was 2011 when we last won this so its been a long drought.”
The men’s competition was once again won by top placed stalwarts Gold Coast Tweed who defeated the young guns from Gateway in a close final which saw the Gold Coast Tweed edge out Gateway 65 to 59.
Gold Coast Tweed Manager Phil Jordan said the 2023 win makes it nine titles in a row.
“It was very close and went shot to shot and was a great game.
“The team really gels, and they get along so well and play great bowls!”
Great bowls was evident across the four days of play at other host Sunshine Coast clubs – Club Kawana, Club Maroochy, Tewantin Noosa and The Waves Caloundra.
The Coolum Beach Bowls Club was praised for the quality of the greens for the Division 1 final and major thanks must go to event sponsors Sunshine Coast Regional Council, The Queensland Government and Australian Secure Capital Fund.
Division 1 at Coolum Beach
Women – Winner: Cunningham 6+40; Runner Up: Gold Coast Tweed 4+33.
Downs 2-10, Tropical Far North QLD 0-63.
Men – Winner: Gold Coast Tweed 6+36; Runner Up: Gateway 4+57.
Sunshine Coast Alpha 2-32, Moreton Bay 0-61.
Division 2 at Tewantin Noosa
Women – Winner: Sunshine Coast Beta 6+71; Runner Up: Bundaberg 4-12
Sunshine Coast Alpha 2-16, North QLD 0-43.
Sunshine Coast Beta women dominated all three games from start finish defeating North QLD, Bundaberg and Sunshine Coast Alpha all comfortably. Bundaberg won both of their other games to claim runner up.
Men – Winner: Brisbane 6+56; Runner Up: Downs 4-2.
Bundaberg 1-14, Fraser Coast 1-40.
Brisbane men started strongly defeating Bundaberg by 10 after losing to them in previous days. They continued this momentum by overcoming Downs by 37 and finished off victors over Fraser Coast by 19 to claim the flag. Downs survived a thriller versus Bundaberg in the last round to finish runner up.
Division 3 at Club Maroochy
Women – Winner: Gateway 6+36; Runner Up: Mackay 4+41.
Brisbane 2-25, Central QLD 0-52.
Gateway won all three games to win the third division flag. After two games, Brisbane and Mackay both had won one game and played against each other in the final round, Mackay won by 28 shots and secured the runners-up flag.
Men – Winner: Mackay 6+40; Runner Up: North QLD 4-1.
Cunningham 2+21, Condamine 0-60.
Going into the final round Mackay was in first place and Cunningham in second and they had a battle to determine the winner. Mackay ruled supreme by a narrow margin of 4 shots, after the last end had to be replayed on two rinks. North QLD defeated Cunningham by only one shot in the second round and then defeated Condamine in the last to secure runners-up.
Division 4 at Club Kawana
Women – Winner: Fraser Coast 6+40; Runner Up: Burnett 4-4.
Moreton Bay 2+9, Southern Downs 0-45.
Fraser Coast started the day well with a dominating win over Burnett before surviving a tight tussle with Moreton Bay in round 2. They finished off with an unblemished record accounting for Southern Downs in the last game. Burnett won their last two to finish runner up.
Men – Winner: Sunshine Coast Bravo 6+57; Runner Up: Maranoa Warrego 4-8.
Tropical Far North QLD 2-19, Port Curtis 0-30.
Sunshine Coast Bravo and Maranoa Warrego both won their first two games to set up a last round show down for the title. Sunshine Coast finished off the better of the two to claim the title although the Maranoa Warrego team never gave up and battled right to the end to finish runner up. Thank you to the Sunshine Coast team who were a late inclusion in the event.
Division 5 at The Waves Caloundra
Women – Winner: Maranoa Warrego 6+63; Runner Up: Port Curtis 4+21.
Condamine 2-44, Leichhardt 0-40.
The Maranoa Warrego women dominated in their three games to win comfortably in each to take out the title. Port Curtis won their other two games to claim runner up.
Men – Winner: North West QLD 5+14; Runner Up: Burnett 4+25.
Southern Downs 3+18, Central QLD 0-57.
North West QLD survived a thriller in the last round, after leading by 15 they found themselves 5 behind with two ends to play, a score of 2 and 3 gave them a draw which was enough to claim the flag. Burnett ended up runner up after nearly having the title in their hands.
Thank you to all host clubs and event sponsors Sunshine Coast Council and Australian Secure Capital Fund for their support of this event. Thank you to Bowls QLD Committee’s/staff and club volunteers/staff for their contribution to the successful running of this event. Thank you to Bowls Gold Coast Tweed Media team for providing live streaming over the four days.
