WESTWARD HO - LOADING THE CHUCKWAGONS

Two wagons are loaded. We will send the women ahead to find a good campsite and to forage for food.

There were very satisfying wins on June 13 & 14 for 3 teams and a continuing dominance by the fourth.

Cheers and tears from the Niagara fan base saluted the Gold for Bill Falconer, Jim Lepere, John Bush and George Lalicich. Bill dedicated the win to his wife Joyce at home, Jim said finally the 'ring' after numerous ' near misses', Rooster didn't need to talk to express his emotion and George caught perhaps his first and last train to the Majors.

Believe or not the Golden women were more subdued but no less excited and thrilled with their straight run to victory. Skip Pauline Hill and Vice Pat Gemmel return to the Canadians after a recess. Pauline won a bronze medal playing Singles in Regina in 2003 and Pat got her start in Vice playing with the Lorry Bates' Cosburn Park teams in 1993 and 1995. It will be a new and exciting experience for 2nd Linda Miller and Lead Ursula Cooney. By the way Ursula has a preference for the Hanover greens for Provincial play. She was a Gold medal winner in Novice with the Laura, Diane Hawryszko team in 2005 on the same greens.

The odds were long for the Willowdale team of Rodger Thompson (S), Arnie Markowitz, Gerald Lampert and Sum Tang but paying no heed to paper calculations they proceeded to win 5 straight games after an opening loss to book their ticket to Victoria. They lost to the eventual gold medal winners but then rolled on to knock off all comers by an average winning score differential of 6 points. Their silver medal win was over the strong Brian McCartney team 14-9.

The 'TSN' turning point appeared to be in a later end when skip Thompson turned a 4 down situation into 1 up with his overweight shot.

Mr. Thompson and et al report to wagon 2.

Methodical, efficient, consistent is the trademark. A run of 4 straight trips to the Canadians. A blip in 2005 but Maureen and Carol covered by winning the Canadian Pairs Gold. Six summer vacations with a bag of bowls and four to a room in 7 years. WOW. Jo Anne Bugler (S), Maureen Thompson, Sharon Farrish, [ in general the seconds have varied some but the results remained the same - Gloria McFalls, Carole Fuller, Dianne Terry ] and Carol Carter have been the model of 'been there, done that'. Two gold and 4 silver in Ontario has been the forerunner to mining for precious medals throughout the country ever year- 2 Gold and 3 bronze and 2009 to come.

To top it off Jo Anne viced for Andrea Weigand along with Gloria and Carol to play the Canadian

Fours in 1999 (Gold ) and 2000 (Silver).

And the players in the Challenge thought they were so smart in picking the number one seed.