(Richmond Hill, Stouffville, and Kingston)

I thought this post would be about my rapidly approaching “bucket list” adventure in November. However, I’m going to defer that again, in order to report on some recent sports-related travel.

I recently participated in the provincial lawn bowling championships in the men’s novice (less than 5 years of experience) singles category. As only 16 bowlers qualified, and there are well over 100 lawn bowling clubs in Ontario, it was an honour just to attend.  Even better, my wife also qualified in the concurrent women’s competition!

This year’s event was held in Stouffville (see photo at top of this post) and Richmond Hill, just over 3 hours west of Kingston. We drove up on Friday to check out the facilities and get some practice on the greens where our sporting fates would be decided over the following two days. I knew quite a few of the competitors, so it was nice to catch up with them before the competition started.

The opening ceremonies on Saturday were very early.  We were piped onto the greens by a bagpiper, and were welcomed by provincial and federal politicians. The early start is out of necessity, as we would have to play three games (plus any necessary tiebreakers) that day and each singles game can take 2-3 hours. Singles bowling really is a test of mental and physical stamina.

My Saturday in Stouffville went well, so I qualified to play in the playoff rounds in Richmond Hill on Sunday. Both clubs are located in the respective “downtown” cores: each one is a peaceful oasis in the middle of a rapidly growing urban area. Decades ago, I used to travel to Richmond Hill occasionally to play hockey, but the population has increased by a factor of nearly ten since then!

Of course, playing sports outdoors all day will work up an appetite, so we enjoyed a bountiful Hungarian meal at the Rhapsody restaurant near the Richmond Hill Club.  There were also appealing Persian and Trinidadian options nearby.

Sunday was an even greater test of endurance, especially when the heat cranked up in the afternoon. I played three further matches, with the second one lasting an incredible 3 hours and 20 minutes.  With perhaps 30 minutes between matches, it was a very long day indeed.  While curling is the sport that employs skills most similar to lawn bowling, I think the conditioning provided by soccer and hockey also came in handy during the heat of the tournament.

By the time the tournament was finally over, it was 7:00 p.m. and we still had to drive back to Kingston and get ready for work the next day. Going out for dinner would have made us even later. Fortunately, the incredibly kind tournament hosts set us up with some food for the long drive home. This is the sort of goodwill that is found so often in the sport: though we all do our best to win, there is also a strong sense that we are “all in this together”.  We are both looking forward to visiting Richmond Hill and Stouffville again some day, and to seeing our fellow competitors at future events around the province.

The very next weekend, I attended a curling clinic. It was hosted by Canadian curling legend Russ Howard. I learned all kinds of cool things about the game…as well as how incredibly skilled the national-level athletes must be in order to succeed.  It was a nice way to transition from summer to winter sports.

 I will be staying close to home for the next month or so.  I promise that the next post really will be about my upcoming trip!

(Special thanks to the tournament organizers, who graciously allowed me to use some photographs for this blog)