Hawick’s senior four have been crowned Scottish bowls champions after triumphing in the final of the national championships in Ayr.
Willie Wells (lead), Robin Bell (second), Les Clarkson (third) and skip Bill Anderson became the first Hawick team to win a national title in 24 years by defeating Yarrow Recreation of Glasgow 15-12 in the final at Northfield on Wednesday.
The last time a Hawick BC team won a national title was back in 1993, when Willie Wells played lead as the men’s four team triumphed.
Les Clarkson, playing third this week, told The Hawick Paper: “That means Willie has done the double at 83 years old. Brilliant.
He added: “We worked well as a team and everyone did their bit. The support we had from the stands was absolutely fantastic. It’s been a super week and it’s a fantastic feeling.”
As Scottish champions, the Hawick quartet will go on to represent the country at Leamington Spa in the British Isles championships next year.
Victory in Wednesday’s final rounded off a superb week for the Hawick over-55 rink, who had to negotiate some tough matches in the early rounds.
After cruising through the semi-final, beating Strathclyde 23-7, they had to come from 8-1 down in the final to secure their fifth victory out of five this week and collect the trophy.
Les added: “It is just brilliant. The first couple of games were really tight, but the quarter-final and semi-finals were quite comfortable.
“In the final, it was a topsy turvy game. We were down, so we changed the length, pulled the mat up and went from 8-1 down to 15-8 in front. We won the last end quite easily. It was brilliant.”
The Hawick rink beat Rutherglen 17-7 in the last eight after edging out Stranraer 16-15 on Tuesday morning. They began a memorable week by beating Dumbarton 17-15 on Monday.
The senior four was one of three teams from the same club who qualified to take part in the prestigious championship this week, but the other two both lost in the opening round. The men’s four, also skipped by Anderson and made up of Clarkson, Simon Spalding and Neil McAskill, lost 20-3 to Zetland in the first round.
The ladies’ triple, of Suzanne Spalding (lead), Pat Brady (second) and Alison Clarkson (skip), lost 19-12 to Errol in their first match yesterday morning.
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