It’s a chance for local sports fans to trade spectating in cold rinks on winter nights for lilting summer days and verdant greens. The genteel and pastoral sport of lawn bowling is to the rest of the Commonwealth what curling is to Canada. Both sports are represented at the international multi-sport level, curling in the Winter Olympics and bowls in the Commonwealth Games.
The best across the nation in the latter are gathered on the Island for the 2023 Canadian Lawn Bowling Championships at Juan de Fuca, which was the bowls venue for the 1994 Commonwealth Games, and boasts four natural-grass greens.
The national championships begin Saturday and run through Aug. 26, beginning with the men’s and women’s singles from Saturday to Monday, followed by men’s and women’s pairs and fours from Tuesday through Aug. 26.
A total of 168 participants, all champions from their provincial playdowns, are taking part. The 2022 national championships were hosted in Burlington and Kitchener, Ont. This is the third time for Juan de Fuca after also hosting the nationals in 2009 and 2017.
“With the commitment of Juan de Fuca members, along with assistance from our other ten Bowls South Island Clubs, our organizing committee aim to provide a welcoming, inclusive and rewarding experience for all athletes, coaches, volunteers and spectators,” Jack Robertson, chair of the host organizing committee, said in a statement.
Pat Bird of Calgary is the Canadian men’s singles holder and looking to defend his title at Juan de Fuca, before representing the country in the 2023 World Bowls Champion of Champions tournament in Australia, which he qualified for by winning the 2022 national championship in Burlington/Kitchener. Bird was also bronze medallist in the 2019 Asia Pacific Bowls Championship in Gold Coast, Australia.
Also to watch in the 24-player men’s singles field is 2022 nationals bronze-medallist Mike McNorton of Kitchener, 2015 champion John Bjornson of Winnipeg and 2022 men’s pairs national champions Steve Ogden and Stephen Bezanson from Nova Scotia. The Maritimers will also be looking to retain their pairs title later next week.
The rising U-18 national singles women’s champion Kiera Schaelow of Calgary is touted to begin making her impact at the Canadian senior level at Juan de Fuca. At the other end of the experience scale is the venerable Jean Roney of Regina, 77, the 11-time national champion who represented Canada in the 1994 Victoria and 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games and twice medalled in the Asia Pacific Championships in 1993 in Victoria and 1995 in Dunedin, New Zealand.
Canada holds its own relatively on the world level against the sport’s heavy hitters and has won 10 silver medals and three bronze at the Commonwealth Games. The 13 total medals are ninth behind England (55), Australia (53), New Zealand (46), South Africa (44), Scotland (41), Wales (31), Northern Ireland (22) and Malaysia (16). However, based on the international standard of ranking by gold medals, Canada is 13th with Hong Kong and Zimbabwe (three golds each) and India and Papua New Guinea (one gold each) jumping ahead in the Games table.
