The Felton’s Manx Masters men’s and women’s bowls competitions reached a conclusion at South Ramsey Bowling Club last week.

Following heavy rain the previous Sunday, the latter stages of the tournaments were postponed until Wednesday evening in what proved to be perfect conditions for bowling.

The rearranged date and kinder conditions attracted approximately 70 spectators to the finals night at the northern venue.

Losing out on Sunday in horrendous conditions were Madison McMullan 19-21 to younger sister and Mooragh Park clubmate Lacey McMullan, while Kim Hargraves (South Ramsey) was defeated 15-21 by Castletown’s Hilary Kermode.

In the bottom half of the draw Louise Tebay (Ballaugh) beat Stella Watterson (Castletown) 21-10, while another Town bowler Hannah Drewett won 21-12 against home greener Sue Collier.

In hugely different conditions on Wednesday evening, South Ramsey made use of the Manx Lottery Trust-funded floodlights which are a massive improvement on the previous lights.

Both semi-finals in the women’s event were well contested with a good battle taking place between McMullan and Kermode.

But the greater experience of the latter saw the Town player finish the game strongly to take her spot in the final with a 21-19 win over the 16-year-old, who has a bright future in the game.

The second semi-final saw Drewett up against the current holder Tebay, with the former building up leads of 10-5, 16-9 and 18-10 to put the Town captain in firm control against the Ballaugh captain.

With Tebay threatening a comeback, this was stopped in its tracks by Drewett who sealed a 21-16 win.

The final got underway with not only Town clubmates up against each other, but mother Hilary up against daughter Hannah.

With neither player having lifted the trophy previously, a new name was guaranteed to be etched onto the famous trophy.

With all players starting off +3 and with six ends of the final played, there was nothing to choose between the players with the score tied at 6-6, with three singles scored each. Drewett made the first move by winning four successive ends to take a 12-6 lead, which was extended further to 17-8 despite conceding two singles.

If ever a comeback was to be made it had to be soon, with Kermode scoring two singles.

But Drewett made sure this was her day as she got back in with a double, then scored two singles to secure a well-deserved 21-10 victory to win her first Manx masters title and one of her biggest wins to date.

Losing out on the Sunday evening in the men’s event were Neil Withers (Marown) 12-21 to Castletown captain Nathan Hamilton who secured his place in the semi-final.

The closest game of the round was between Peter Greenlees (Marown) and Dido Kelly (South Ramsey), with the latter getting over the line 21-19.

In the bottom half of the draw 11-time winner of this competition John Kennish (South Ramsey) made light work of Peel man Dave ‘Barney’ Kelly 21-9, with current holder David Bradford (South Ramsey) winning his third game of the day to single figures as he beat Breagle man Trevor Quayle 21-7.

Wednesday night saw the last remaining visiting bowler in the men’s competition, Hamilton, go up against Dido Kelly.

The former raced out of the blocks the quickest as he built up a 9-4 lead after only five ends, with the lead then being extended to 16-9 playing a similar game and length to that preferred by his opponent.

With an 18-13 lead, the Town man looked favourite to book his place in a first Manx Masters final but a late rally from Kelly playing corner to crown saw the South Ramsey man take the lead for the first time in the game to go within touching distance of victory at 20-18.

A double from Hamilton saw the game go to a deciding end at 20-20, but a good first bowl from Kelly went unbeaten to take his place in the final with a 21-20 victory.

The other semi-final on paper looked hard to call, but a commanding performance from the number one ranked player in the island saw reigning Manx Champion Bradford win a fourth game in the competition to single figures with a 21-9 victory, leaving Kennish to score on only three ends with doubles on each end scored.

The final was an all-South Ramsey affair, as Bradford scored heavily over the first 11 ends to go into an unassailable 18-6 lead with a dominant display.

Kelly went on to win three ends on the trot to become the first opponent to reach double figures against Bradford, but this was always going to prove to be too much to comeback from against an opponent who has been in fine form this season.

Bradford duly won the next two ends to seal a 21-10 win to retain the trophy and win number five in this competition.

The presentation was made by competition secretary James Teare who thanked the ladies for the efforts with the catering, the club members who donated raffle prizes and those who had assisted throughout the two days.

A special thanks was given to long-term sponsors Felton’s for its continued support in this competition.

GLYNN HARGRAVES