Greig takes North junior title at Thurso
Local interest was provided by four Thurso bowlers, Ronnie Bain, Alan Morrison, Ross Cowan and Peter Dymond, and Wick-based Ryan Campbell.
The local bowlers gave a good account of themselves but unfortunately none were able to make it through to the knock- out stages.
The initial group stage comprised eight leagues of four players and was played on Saturday, with the group winners entering the knock-out stages the following day.
Excellent bowls were played throughout the group stages in front of an appreciative crowd. Although play was suspended for a while due to a particularly heavy downpour, the standard of play was unaffected on the resumption.
The group winners were: Kevin MacDonald (St Aethans); Andrew Adamson (Ardross); Joshua Sinclair (Inverness Highland); Chris Mitchell and Martin Rough (both Huntly); Jamie Hanlan (Bonnyrigg); Ewan Fraser (Fortrose and Rosemarkie; and Greig Douglas (Abergeldie).

In the quarter finals, competition newcomer MacDonald was defeated 18-21 by Adamson. Sinclair could not reproduce his excellent bowling of the previous day and was beaten 21-6 by Mitchell. Hanlan, another newcomer, defeated Fraser, a former champion, by 21-14 and Rough went down 21-15 to Greig Douglas.
The first semi-final was played between Adamson and Mitchell. The latter produced stunning drawing bowls and moved to a 19-5 lead after 16 ends. Adamson saved several ends with accurate driving bowls and, although he rallied towards the end, the Huntly player ran out the winner by 21-12.
The other semi was a much closer affair with the score tied at 12-12 after 14 ends. Both players played excellently with Douglas eventually getting the upper hand to pull away and defeat Hanlan by 21 shots to 17.
The final was also a closely contested encounter. Mitchell had a great start with a three at the first end but Douglas turned on the style to lead by 16-7 after 16 ends. Mitchell found his range again and won four ends in a row to take the lead 17-16. This forced Douglas to up his game and he hit back to take the following three ends and run out the winner by 21-17 to take the title.
Though he had gone close on several previous occasions since taking part in the inaugural competition in 2004, this was his first success in nine attempts.
The trophy and the prizes were presented by Bowls Scotland ladies’ north district secretary Carole Thornhill. Douglas Morrison, the competition organiser, introduced the finalists and thanked sponsors Belhaven, Allans of Gillock and Symbio, as well as the players, markers, umpires and spectators.