Manx Masters, one of the highlights of the Manx bowls calendar, took place at South Ramsey on Sunday involving four separate competitions.

Young Manx Masters was contested by seven players of primary school age in a round-robin format, with each group playing six ends and the last played as a ’power’ end with points scored counting double.

After a good morning of bowls, it was Evan Leece (Marown) who won the title topping the group with 48 points, with Bailey McMullan (Mooragh Park) runner-up on 40.

Junior Manx Masters was played as a straight knockout for the older and more experienced players with 19 taking part - several having moved up into the category this year.

The title was won for the first time by 15-year-old Madison McMullan (North Ramsey) who beat 12-year-old Sam Colquitt (Marown) 21-18 in a well-contested final.

Madison narrowly edged her semi-final game to beat Grace Gawne (Onchan) 21-20, while Sam beat Katie Jacobs (Douglas) 21-13 to take his spot in the final.

The standard of play in both events was excellent and there was a fantastic crowd around the green supporting the future of the game. With the numbers steadily increasing throughout, it made for a great morning.

The junior competitions were sponsored by Stonemasons (IoM) Limited for a fifth successive year, with the prizes presented by Dave ’Dido’ Kelly. Everyone that took part received a prize.

A huge thanks must go to the coaches - Clare Cooper, Phil Kelly and Colin Kelly - who helped the younger players with their games throughout the morning.

Once the junior competitions came to a conclusion the Felton’s-sponsored men’s and women’s events got underway with the latter being an invitation of 16 players, while the men’s event had 32 invited to play.

Losing out at the quarter-final stages in the women’s event were Sue Gawne (Onchan) 10-21 to Clare Cooper (Marown), Margie Tasker to the same score against Port St Mary team-mate Trish Bull, while Rebecca Teare (Marown) lost 16-21 to Jenny Moore (South Ramsey).

The closest game of the quarter-finals was between Fiona Kennish (South Ramsey) and Janet Monk (Mooragh Park) with the latter winning 21-17.

In the semi-finals, Clare Cooper saw off Trish Bull with a 21-15 win, while Jenny Moore had things a bit easier with a 21-9 win over Janet Monk to go through to the final.

In the final, Cooper won six of the first 10 ends, scoring singles with some good second bowls, while Moore scored four doubles to lead 11-9.

Moore then stepped up a gear to take four consecutive singles, before finding yet another gear to finish with three consecutive doubles to see the game out 21-9 over Cooper to take her fourth consecutive women’s Masters title.

Moore’s day was almost over before it had started as she very nearly went out in the first round when finding herself 9-17 down against Debbie Leece (Marown), only to claw her way back into the game on a longer length to win 21-20.

It proved that a game is never over as she battled back to come through as all top players do.

In the men’s event, four of the eight last-16 games were well contested with the defeated players scoring 16 or more.

Losing out at the quarter final stage were Tom Kelly (Peel), who lost 8-21 to Kevin Quirk (Onchan), Matthew Quirk (Onchan) had his challenge ended by Wayne Roberts (Port St Mary) 16-21.

In the bottom half of the draw, Reg Temporaza (Onchan) lost out 17-21 to David Bradford (South Ramsey), while Glynn Hargraves beat South Ramsey team-mate Dave ’Dido’ Kelly 21-16 to progress to the next round.

In the semi-finals, Quirk took a convincing 21-8 win over Roberts with the latter reaching his second successive Masters semi-final. In the other semi-final, team-mates Bradford and Hargraves were finely poised after the first 15 ends with the score at 13-12 it was Bradford who went on to run out with a 21-12 victory to earn his place in the final.

In front of a good crowd that had remained in place for the duration, the final started in fading but with both players reluctant for the floodlights to be switched on.

This did not, nevertheless, reduce the quality of play from either man.

After the early exchanges, both players tried different marks and lengths. Bradford led Quirk by one chalk at 13-12 with 16 ends played.

Bradford took four of the next five ends to lead 18-14, with Quirk then scoring singles on three of the next four ends between a double from Bradford who led 20-17.

On the final end Bradford made sure of the win as he played a great last bowl to seal a 21-17 victory and claim his third Manx Masters title, following on from his back-to-back successes in 2014 and 2015.

The presentation was made by South Ramsey’s Glynn Hargraves, who thanked Alan Moore for his excellent work running the sheet for all four competitions throughout the day, and the team involved with the preparation of the green.

Chris and Lynnette Perry were then introduced to present the prizes on behalf of Felton’s Ironmongers, without whose support this event would not be possible.

Upon accepting the trophy, Bradford thanked the green keepers for the work that goes into maintaining the green all year round, again thanking Alan Moore for his hard work keeping the competition moving, along with everyone who had helped in any way towards the smooth-running of the competitions.

A special mention was given to the women who once again put on an ever-increasing range of superb refreshments throughout the day. It was also great to see such a large crowd stay on to watch what was a superb final. £1,000 was paid out in prize money on the day.