For the BC 55+ Games, Zone 3 covers a lot of ground: from Port Moody to Boston Bar. Through a mix of bad and good luck, both ends of the zone came together on one five-pin bowling team — and captured bronze medals for their efforts in the B event at the Vernon Games, Sept. 12-16.
Five bowlers from Boston Bar’s Canyon Lanes were headed to the zone playdowns earlier this year… but one of them didn’t make it to the venue.
“Poor John Black, he inadvertently made a couple of wrong turns,” said team member Lloyd Forman. Each team needed five members, so the Canyon Lanes team was in the gutter unless they could find someone to fill the hole. That’s where Port Moody resident, Linda Lewin came in. She stepped up and helped the team place second to Abbotsford, giving Canyon Lanes a berth in the Vernon B event.
The 55+ Games were celebrating their 30th year and the bowlers came back to where the first bowling events took place, the Lincoln Lanes in Vernon.
“We have 16 players in the seniors league and we take the top five in a tournament,” said Forman. “We go to the games every year and have a very high percentage of medals.”
This year’s team included Forman and Black (subbed by Lewin), along with Pat Clelland, Cora Dunlop and Betty Davidson. At Vernon, Forman was well off his home league average but he said, “Betty did extremely well, as did Linda. Two players pulled us through.”
Davidson’s single game score of 178 earned her an individual bronze and helped the team to a third place finish in the B event. The team scored 41 “pins over average.” Meanwhile, Abbotsford’s A-event team finished off the podium.
“I believe Betty’s average is 103,” added Forman, showing what a remarkable feat Davidson had pulled off. Lewin’s 147 and Dunlop’s 143 in the final game of the tournament helped keep the team on the podium.
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Forman said the publicly-owned four-alley Canyon Lanes facility underwent a $30,000 renovation this spring, financed by the taxpayer-funded reserve fund.
“A crew of two came and stayed for the whole week,” he said. “Now, we’ve got above-ground ball returns and a new computer system, with fun graphics. It’s very user-friendly and lots of fun.
“We’re up in the last year or two, for usage,” he added, figuring the daytime and night league membership at 64.
The facility is offering lane rentals at $10 per hour for families or other groups on Friday nights, excluding the last Friday of each month. Check out their Facebook page for other news.