Men's triples success for Markinch bowlers in National Championships

David Comrie skipped the men’s gold-winning team, along with his father Malcolm and Jamie Cameron, beating Ayr Seafield 13-12 in a nail-biting finale.

It proved to be a successful week for the Comrie family with David’s husband Donna helping Leven triples to a 15-8 defeat of Cardross in the final.

The Markinch trio started their games last Thursday and had a welcome 16-9 win over Galston B.C In the afternoon they needed an extra end to knock out Westerton B.C by 13-12.

There was a big Markinch support on Friday morning to watch the quarter final against Rutherglen B.C and after five ends the Markinch trio were still waiting to score and trailed 10-0.

However, the determination of the Markinch team to succeed came to the fore and when they picked up a count of seven shots on the next end the fightback had begun.

The Rutherglen trio folded under the pressure and Markinch booked their place in the semi-final with a 22-18 win.

The start of the semi-final on Saturday morning against Balgownie B.C was delayed due to the heavy rain, but when it did start the game was an exciting spectacle of high quality bowls, which culminated in a deserved 15-12 for Markinch to book their place in the triples final.

It is a great achievement to reach the Scottish Finals at Ayr and every game after that is a bonus, so to reach the final was absolutely fantastic.

In the final against Ayr, Seafield the lead swopped back and forth, however, Markinch went into the last end with a slender one shot lead.

It was inevitable that the Ayr triple levelled the score, which took the final into an extra end. The game finished with Markinch lying shot and David Comrie had the luxury of not playing his last bowl.

The cheers from the Markinch support must have been heard back in Fife. What a fantastic result and there is now two Markinch Triples names on the Triples Trophy.

There was a celebration party at Markinch B.C on Saturday night and now look forward to next year, when the Markinch Triple will represent Scotland in the international competition.

Meanwhile, in the pairs competition first round on Wednesday, James Davies Jnr and Colin Falconer faced Spateson B.C and, while they performed very well, they eventually lost 22-14.

In the Ladies Junior (under-25) Single/Hand competition Emma Blyth started her competition on Tuesday morning with a 21-17 win against Chirnside B.C and she followed this up in the afternoon with a 21-19 victory against Garelochhead B.C.

In the quarter final she lost 21-12 to Bridge of Allan, however, for someone so young this was a tremendous performance against bowlers who were older and so much more experienced. The future is bright for Emma and her performances at Ayr will stand her in good stead.