Nottingham Indoor Bowls Club recently hosted the national championships and Spalding Lightning were well represented.
In the men’s singles, Jordan Philpott lost in the last 16 against Solihull’s Tom Holmes who went on to win the title.
There were also last 16 exits for Ean and Tristan Morton in the open pairs and Louise Harris in the ladies’ two bowl singles.
In the under-18 singles, Owen Aspinall performed well but did not qualify, with one win out of three.
Ruby Philpott and Chelsea Spencer lost on an extra end in the quarter final of the ladies’ pairs. Philpott, Spencer and Annie Dunham lost in the semi final of the ladies’ triples and were joined by Danielle Wild as they had another good run and just fell short in the semi final of the ladies’ fours.
Nick Wilkie, Martin Simpson and Kevin Ekins lost in the semi final of the over-50 triples against Cumbria, but there were near misses in two events.
Spalding Lightning were going for three in a row in the under-30 inter-club double triples competition and they booked their place in the final with a 39-17 win against Midglos.
Ollie Jeapes, Ruby Philpott and Stephen Harris won 21-6 and Dan Mills, Aspinall and Jordan Philpott won 18-11.
In the final, they came up against a strong Egham team who won by ten shots, 25-35.
Philpott’s rink won 19-13, but Harris found his opposition in top form as they lost 6-22.
In the men’s fours, Harris, Martin Spencer, Mathew Orrey and Dominic McVittie had a fantastic run to the final.
In the last 16, they beat Norfolk 16-15 after an extra end, Hartlepool 17-12 in the quarter final and booked their place in the final with a relatively comfortable 17-8 win against Falcon after racing into a 15-2 lead.
Their opposition in the final were a strong Torquay outfit which was skipped by England international Sam Tolchard.
The Torquay quartet were going for three in a row and five out of the last six seasons and although Spalding Lightning contributed to a high-quality final, Torquay picked up the title again with a 19-11 win.
Although representing Lincolnshire, Max Butters, Jeapes and Aspinall were part of the under-18 county team who lost in the national final.
In the semi final, they beat Kent 41-20 but lost out in the final against a strong Gloucestershire team 25-34.
Congratulations to Wilkie, Simpson and the rest of the Lincolnshire team who won the national over-60 inter-county knockout competition.
The final against Surrey reached an exciting conclusion which Lincolnshire won by three shots, 111-108. Wilkie and Simpson were joined in a rink by Lincoln’s Nick Orrey and George Draper, who won 24-14.
* On Saturday, April 12, Louth & District Indoor Bowls Club hosted the men’s county league final between Horncastle, who were the north division winners, and Spalding, who won the south.
Spalding were dominant from the outset and were 11-0 up across the board after only the first end.
Although Horncastle did manage to get a foothold in the game, Spalding’s lead was never less than ten shots and as Horncastle tried to chase the game, Spalding increased their lead towards the end of the match, eventually winning 90-60.
Top winning rink was skipped by McVittie, with Nathan Puttrell, Ian Stafford and James Teesdale who won 35-8.
Rink scores: Nathan Puttrell, Ian Stafford, James Teesdale and Dominic McVittie won 35-8, Eric Wakefield, Anthony Cronin, Terry Windsor and Martin Simpson won 22-11, Nick Wilkie, Gavin Staite, Chris Warboys and Kevin Ekins lost 16-19, Tony Westland, Max Butters, David Nunney and Martin Spencer lost 17-22.
