I can officially announce that New Zealand is a long way
from England!! I left cold damp Gatwick on Friday evening arriving in
Christchurch New Zealand at 3pm on Sunday afternoon a short 29 hour flight to
the other side of the planet. Jet Lag has not been a great issue, which is a
bit of a results as we were straight into work on Sunday afternoon with a tour
of the 3 main bowling venues for this World Championship. It has been great
meeting up with friends from Australia and New Zealand and other countries and
we all enjoyed a Chinese meal before calling it a day.
Waiting for a Bus - Some of my ITO Colleagues |
On Monday morning after breakfast we held a meeting of all
the ITO’s. After the meeting we departed to the various venues to carry out the
final Bowl Registrations and check the umpires kits.
Monday afternoon was the opening ceremony. All the players
and officials were taken into the city centre where we marched behind a brass
band a short distance to the City Council Chambers. There we were entertained
by a traditional Maori welcome and some speeches.
Tuesday was the start of the competition itself. It’s an
early start for us officials as we are collected by minibus from our
accommodation at 6:45am and taken to our allocated venues. There are 3 venues
being used for these games; the main centre being Burnside Bowling Club with 3
impressive greens, Fendalton Bowls Club with 2 greens and a separate green a
short walk away called Canterbury Bowls Club and finally a delightfully named
Papanui Bowls Club with 2 greens.
Preparing the TV rinks at Burnside |
During the early sectional play stages we are all working 3
sessions per day up until Thursday. The sessions start at 8:15, 12:15 and 15:45
and all games are played to a 3 hour time limit. There are 34 Officials
representing 7 countries working at this 2 week event.
I started today at the Fendalton Club at 8:15 with a session
as a time keeper, more on that later in the week, followed by a marking session
at 12:15 and then an umpiring session to end the day. This afternoon I marked
for two delightful ladies from Kenya and Fiji and this was followed by an
umpiring session with the Mens’ Pairs. The late afternoon session was
particularly challenging for the players as the wind was strong and with a very
slick green it made controlling the bowls very different. There was some World
Class players on the rink and the conditions were making them look like
amateurs which was proving very frustrating for them.
The ITO Uniform modeled by Vic Perry from England |
If you have any questions of comments about the championships then please enter them below and I will be happy to answer them whilst at the event.
You can follow all the latest news and results at www.worldbowls2016.com
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