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Inaugural Willie Watson Bowls Invitational
The Willie Watson Invitational Trips
Competitors in the inaugural Willie Watson Invitational Trips.
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The inaugural Willie Watson Invitational Trips for the Watson Trophy sponsored by Muthaiga Club, was held in recognition of more than 25 years of Willie’s loyal service to Lawn Bowls at the Club.
This 2-wood trips competition attracted five Clubs and a total of 16 teams who were divided into four leagues, which played one another in round-robin style. The top four ranked teams were then placed in a knockout competition (semi-finals and finals) for the Trophy, Plate, Bowl and Basket. The winner of the first ever Watson Trophy was Karen A - Andrew Jones (skip), David Salmon (second) and Beatrice Mburu (lead) - who beat Ruiru A (19-12). Willie Watson presented the Trophy. The Plate was won by Muthaiga B (Essie Ndungu (skip), Alan Collis (second) and John Dryden (lead), who had to go to a 19th end to defeat Nairobi A (19-17) in a very exciting final.
The Bowl was won by Nairobi B - Joseph Kagau (skip), Grace Njuguna (second) and Leila Gathoni (lead) - who beat Ruiru C (1814) in the final.
The Basket was won by Ruiru B (20-18) who defeated Mombasa A - Charles Mathenge (skip), Jackson Maina (second) and Aimee Umurungi (lead) in a closely contested final.
The spider was won by Christina Andersen and John Porter. Muthaiga Club would like to thank everybody who supported the tournament and made it such a success. It was wonderful to see 48 bowlers on the Green. The Trophy was donated by the Watson family and the Bowls Section was delighted to welcome Sheena Watson, her husband John Dryden and her brother Andrew who all travelled long distances to join us on this historic occasion. Oliver Fowler paid tribute to Willie for his enormous contribution to Lawn Bowls at MCC and to both Willie and Jean for their support to Bowls at Limuru Club.
Willie Watson with winners of Watson Trophy - Karen A (Andrew Jones, Beatrice Mburu, David Salmon) and Harvey Herr, Bowls Captain MCC.
BOWLING CALENDAR OF EVENTS
28/29 May CLUB TRIPS 25/26 June CLUB HANDICAP SINGLES
Our monthly Competitions have continued and, although the 55+ Mixed Doubles event was abandoned due to a shortagge of participants (that can’t be right?) we had a big response for the Club’s “Aussie” Mixed doubles Tournament. Twenty-four players participated in three graded Pools with four teams representing Dingos, Echidnas, Emus and the Kangaroos! By playing on a Round-Robin basis throughout the morning and combining the three sets of results at the end of match play, the Kangaroos! won played by 1st Pair – Pamela Bitange & Alex Lemhberg, 2nd Pair Mathieu & Ornella and 3rd Pair David Percival & Noemie, with the Dingos, played by 1st Pair – Johnnie Ponsonby & Aida Nesbitt, 2nd Pair Rupert McLellan & Rachel Wootton and 3rd Pair Belinda & Lucy Walker, in hot pursuit.
Congratulations to the Kangaroos! and to all players for making it a most enjoyable morning of social tennis.
Disappointingly, the response to our Ladies’ and Men’s Singles was dismal with just three ladies and two men showing up. Nevertheless, Johnny Ponsonby and David Percival played two sets against each other whereas, the Ladies agreed to play in a mini Round-Robin session. One of the staff joined in to top up the group to an even number of players. With each player playing nine games per match, Aida Nesbitt came out over-all winner with 18 points and Rachel Wootton was Runner-Up with 14 pts. Despite the poor response, it was still a worthwhile and enjoyable morning’s tennis.
For the last event of this quarter, we held our annual “Matata” Trophy Competition. This was a Mixed Doubles event but with one stipulation. Married couples and spouses had to partner each other – fortunately, there were no embarrassing eruptions throughout the morning, nor any divorces, much to my relief!
Six pairs competed in a Round-Robin format with Bitange and Pamela winning the actual Trophy as being the best performing married couple. Another prize was presented to the best performing couple overall - and that went to Yan Welffens and Richard (one of our staff.) Despite the odd no-show for tournaments, members of our tennis community should be lauded for maintaining their superb enthusiasm for the game. This is clearly indicated in the number of chits signed by Members. For the past three months an average of 658 chits were collected each month.
Finally, it was with great sadness to the Club and particularly the tennis community to learn of Chris Shaw’s untimely death. He was a long term, stalwart member of our tennis club and an enthusiastic, accomplished player, full of fun and a great friend to the Club. Our thoughts are with his family, brother Nigel and sister Tessa (McLellan) who are also committed members of the MCC tennis community.
Happy couple Bitange & Pamela - winners of the Matata Trophy
