Blizzard takes the edge off bowlers' triumph

Through to the national finals of Over 50 tripoles, from the left Bob warters, Keith Rippin and Cliff Watson.

THREE Stamford bowlers qualified for the EIBA national finals in the Over 50 Triples on Tuesday night (Feb 27) and then had to battle through blizzard conditions from the venue to make it home safely.

Bob Warters, Cliff Watson and Keith Rippin beat Leicester IBC trio John Grant, Jim Leckie and Jim Keogh 22-15 at the neutral Melton stadium but it was approaching midnight before they reached Stamford, with driver Watson and his wife Sue still facing a perilous journey to their home in Whittlesey.

The couple were trapped in stationary traffic on the A1 and eventually arrived home at 7am on Wednesday morning!

Commented Watson, who will be making his first appearance in the national finals: "We didn't move for about five hours and even had paramedics attending to a woman in labour three cars back from us. Driving conditions got better as we got to Stibbington as the depth of snow got progressively less as we went south.

"We only had about one centimetre in Whittlesey but all i can say is: It's a good job we won!"

By their own admission the Stamford trio were not at their best as both sides struggled on the slower-paced surface but after conceding five shots on the eighth end to trail 10-11 they picked up 12 shots on the next eight ends and finished with counts of three and four.

In the final stages at Nottingham on April 9, they will meet a triple from either Riverain (Hitchin) or Chigwell for a place in the quarter-finals.

Stamford IBC was due to host the national pairs Area finals between Chris Rodgers & Les Gillett (Melton) and Matt Whyers & Martin Spencer (Spalding) but the tie had to be postponed because of the bad weather.