The Channel Islands sent a contingent of 17 players to this year’s British Isles Championships in Belfast, Ireland to compete across 11 disciplines. The British Isles Championships is an annual competition of the home countries (England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales) and the Channel Islands. Qualifiers from each country compete in a knockout tournament to be crowned British Isles Champion in the Men’s and Ladies under 25 singles, singles, pairs, triples, fours and Men’s veteran fours.
The Channel Islands have enjoyed recent success at this event with British Isles Champions in the Men’s and Ladies singles, Ladies triples and Ladies fours. Competitors qualify on their relevant island and then play off in the Channel Island Finals which are held each January. Guernsey had resounding success in this year’s edition of the Channel Island Finals winning all but one of the competitions; as such the team was heavily weighted with Guernsey players.
Success came in three disciplines this year, Ladies Singles with the representative Alison Merrien MBE beating Scotland’s Julie Forest in the preliminary round 21-15; then beating Ireland’s Shauna O’ Neill 21-19 in the semi-final; before facing England’s Sian Honnor in the final. A close match ensued with the pair at 8-8 after 10 ends, 14-11 after 16 ends before Ali picked up 3 shots on the next end. Sian countered with a 3, then a 4 of her own taking her within three shots of the 21 points needed to win the game. Ali regained some momentum winning the next end, but Sian closed out the game with 3 shots over the next two ends.
The Channel Island player of the tournament however was Guernsey’s Gary Pitschou whose return to the international stage saw him playing in the Men’s Singles and Men’s Veteran Fours alongside Martyn De Carteret, Dave King and Mike Le Noury. The Veteran Fours team had convincing wins against England (20-4) and then Scotland (24-7) before meeting their match in the final against Ireland. A slow start saw the team trailing by 12 shots to 4 after eight ends, but the team fought back valiantly bringing the scoreline back to 19-14 with two ends to go. The team had gold in their sights picking up 3 shots on the penultimate end, needing a further 2 shots for a draw and an extra end, however it wasn’t to be, only scoring 1 shot in the final end.
Gary Pitschou had a similarly impressive run in the Men’s Singles beating tournament favorite Tom Holmes from England 21-19 in the semi-final before facing home player Stephen Kirkwood from Ireland in the final. Stephen and Gary were well matched with the scoreline 15-15 after 17 ends. Gary pushed ahead, winning three ends in a row to take him to 18 points, needing 3 for the win. Stephen, however, was not beaten, picking up a single, then a triple, now ahead of Gary by 1 point; with momentum on his side, he scored the 2 needed for the win, putting an end to match and the Sarnian’s hope for a gold.
The Channel Islands team clearly demonstrated their ability to compete with the major bowling nations and came away with three silver medals from this event. Preparations now start for each Island ahead of next month’s inter-insular in Jersey.