Local bowling star, Joanne Martin has finished runner-up in the prestigious Victorian Open triples with Julie Simpson and Sharyn Renshaw in front of a huge crowd at the Traralgon Bowling Club.
Simpson is a former Lakes Entrance Bowling Club member, who now plays for Kangaroo Flat, while Renshaw represents the powerful Ocean Grove Bowls Club.
They went down in a high class final to Olivia Cartwright (Bendigo), Tayla Bruce (New Zealand) and Lisa Phillips (Clayton) 16-6.
It was certainly no disgrace going down to that highly talented trio.
Cartwright dominated the tournament, winning the mixed pairs, woman’s pairs, woman’s triples and woman’s singles, winning 32 games in 10 days.
Bruce is a former singles world champion and world number two, while the highly competitive Phillips, originally from Yallourn, has won a couple of Australian Open singles titles.
Martin, Simpson and Renshaw had a sensational tournament, winning two of their three preliminary rounds to progress to the final 16, knock out stage.
There were plenty of familiar faces in the round of 16 match, particularly for Renshaw, as the trio with Martin as skip were 18-10 winners over Jen Le Cerf (Ocean Grove), Kerry Gooley (City Of Geelong) and Patricia McGrath (Ocean Grove).
Their tournament nearly came to an end in the quarter finals, but they won the final end to progress 15-14 over Lisa Trewarne (Melton), Addy Ryan (Deer Park) and Chelsea Pollock (Melton).
One of their best performances of the tournament was in the semi-final, where they accounted for Dianne Shipworth, Geraldine Nott and Christine McCarthy from Merimbula.
Barefoot Bowls will be played at the Lakes Entrance Bowling Club on Easter Sunday, a chance to discover the fun of bowls.
All equipment will be supplied and rinks can be booked for up to two hours.
Time slots include noon-2pm, 2-4pm and 4-6pm.
Bookings can be made through the club.
