Three Gold Pan seniors represented not only Quesnel, but the entire province of B.C. with a bronze medal performance at the Club 55+ Triples Team National Championships.
“It’s the biggest tournament for us,” team captain Lewis Hulet said.
Bernie Ens, Hulet and Bob Slater came together earlier this year to make a dream team that took bronze the top levels of the sport for the men.
But before that, a slightly different team, composed of Hulet, Slater and Lawrence Dubuc, won the house championship, moving them on to the northern zones, where they once again made their way to the top, opening up a door to provincials at Juniper Lanes in Cranbrook.
The men ran away with the provincial tournament, with Slater bagging a 360 triple in the first three games on the way to winning by a 143 point gap.
Dubuc, however, couldn’t make the trip and was replaced by Enns.
The win not only opened a berth for them in the nationals, but paid their way to Edmonton to take on the nation for the first time in the men’s considerable history in bowling.
The men went on to the nationals at the Bonnie Doon Bowling Lanes in Edmonton where they took on the rest of the nation.
“It was pretty tough bowling – we were against all the best teams,” Slater said.
When the team finally hit the lanes in Edmonton, they were ready to get things done.
The team faced 10 games over the course of two days, which tested the men’s, each over seventy, endurance and took it’s toll.
A break between the first four games and the last two games caused some stiffness, especially in 85 year-old Hulet.
The team won six of its ten games, which was based on points over average and how the score competed against the opposing team.
Southern Ontario and Alberta both scored 8 points by winning eight of their ten games forcing the tournament to a playoff, which was decided in Southern Ontario’s favour, with Alberta netting second.
On the way back the team had a flying adventure, trapped in limbo at the Vancouver airport for hours before finally getting their plane home to show off their medals.
Quesnel also had a successful women’s team.
Marg Palik, Leona Curtis and Terri Schmitke took their game all the way to provincials for the women, where they finished second, just short of finding a position in nationals next to the men.
