Up the mountain in a bid to bowl for UK gold
IN SIX attempts Australia has never won a lawn bowls gold medal at a Commonwealth Games held in the United Kingdom.
Now a Gold Coast bowls club looms as the means to finally getting an Aussie atop the podium in Birmingham.
Father-son lawn bowls duo Jake and Grant Fehlberg have travelled the world in preparation for their Commonwealth Games title defence, including a stint in the UK, but the final tune-ups will be done on familiar home soil.
The Burleigh Heads Bowls Club members have set up shop at Club Tamborine’s carefully crafted greens that have been specially prepared to mimic the conditions they will face in just over a month’s time.
Jake and Grant join an 18-member Australian lawn bowls team headed to the UK with high expectations on the back of five gold and two silver at the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast.
But the cool climate and slower greens of the Leamington Spa venue are a stark contrast to those on the Coast. Thus Bowls Australia sent Jake, Grant and teammates up the mountain – Tamborine Mountain – to properly prepare.
“We’ve been doing plenty of slow green training, especially at Mt Tamborine, where they’ve had greens specified to try and replicate the English conditions,” Jake said.
Grant anticipates there will be added pressure to perform in Birmingham after their 2018 success.
“Win a gold medal. Make it two,” said Grant of the ultimate goal.
Another man going for gold is fellow Burleigh Heads member Barrie Lester.
The 40-year-old won a pairs bronze at the 2006 Commonwealth Games and dual silvers in the triples and fours at Gold Coast 2018.
Though he would not be drawn on his quest for an elusive gold, Lester said the Aussie team had left no stone unturned in its quest to end the UK hoodoo. “We want that northern hemisphere success.”