Rynne, Nelson cap week with carnival win

Junior bowlers in rich North Toowoomba club carnival victory.

2020 Australia Day Carnival winners (from left) Jacob Nelson, Kane Nelson, Jake Rynne and Greg Nelson with North Toowoomba Bowls Club chairman Rod Banks (left) and club president Cameron King.

LAWN BOWLS : Queensland junior medal winners Jake Rynne (North Toowoomba) and Kane Nelson (Belmont) capped off a great week of bowls at North Toowoomba Bowls Club, teaming up with Kane’s father, Greg and brother Jacob, to take out the major prizemoney in the $12,000 Great Northern Open Classic Fours Australia Day Carnival held on Saturday and Sunday.

Jake and Kane won medals at the state junior carnival during the week at North Toowoomba and were both named in the Queensland junior squad to take on New South Wales later this year.

While many bowlers would be burnt out from a week of bowls, Rynne and the Nelson’s revelled in the conditions to win all six matches and capture the $4000 first prize money in the richest carnival held in Toowoomba.

Going into the final game on Sunday, three teams were tied on five wins (Rynne, Hayden Vogler and Gary Gray) with margins strongly in favour of Vogler’s team should all three teams win.

In a tense battle, and with all three teams within just a few rinks of one another, Rynne’s team handled the pressure and prevailed 16-11 over skip Peter Brun and his team to clinch victory.

Vogler’s team couldn’t match the Greg Gees’ skipped side to fall 15-11 while Gary Gray’s team was outclassed 19-9 by the team skipped by Peter Hobday.

Such was the quality of the field, Australian and international Kurt Brown’s side had to settle for third place behind Rynne & Vogler, with Gray’s team dropping back to fourth.

In its second year, the $12,000 Great Northern Classic Fours 2020 brought together possibly the strongest field to contest a bowls carnival in Toowoomba, with international, Australian, state and Premier League Queensland players spread throughout the 32-team capacity field.

North Toowoomba Bowls Club officials hailed the carnival as the best staged by the club and praised greens’ supervisor Dave Howard for his preparation of the playing surfaces of both greens.