What Changed?
The following disciplines (events) will be played at a single prestigious Canadian Lawn Bowling Championship:
- Men’s Singles, Fours, Pairs, Triples in a five aside format*
- Women’s Singles, Fours, Pairs, Triples in a five aside format*
- Youth U21 singles
- Para Bowls for visually and physically impairments in the B1 to B8 classifications.
The winner of the Men’s and Women’s Singles will continue to be offered the opportunity represent Canada at the World Champion of Champions as long as Canada retains an entry into the event.
*Provincial Associations may opt to not send a five aside team and instead send separate entrants for each of the Singles, Fours, Pairs and Triples.
In place of a Canadian Indoor Championship, Bowls Canada will run a World Indoor Qualification competition to qualify Canada’s entrants to the World Indoor Championships.
Why Change?
Singles, Fours, Triples and Pairs all have an international component. There was extensive demand amongst bowlers for the return of triples to the national calendar. Maintaining Youth and Para Bowls events will ensure a development pathway for these demographics which would otherwise struggle to be qualify for national events.
Eliminating the Senior Triples was a difficult decision for a sport primarily made up of seniors. However, analysis of national participant data over the last four championships indicates that the average age of participant is 62 years old. Given the overwhelming participant feedback to lower the Seniors age to 60, and when considering that the addition of triples is now back into the line-up for the single prestigious event, we can see that the both the demographic and the event have been protected. (Note: This data does not include participants from the Youth Championship participants.)
The elimination of the U25 event was also based on a similar participant analysis. Expanding the age group to U21 will capture the overwhelming majority of Youth participants for whom the Youth Championships were their only national event. Canada will continue to participate in the World Youth Championships, however, the entrants will now be selected similar to many of the leading bowls nations.
The removal of the Mixed Pairs at the national level was largely due to the need to keep the single prestigious event contained enough that venues would be able and willing to host. Additionally, with no international Mixed Pairs event at the moment, this event did not fit with the profile of the new format. This format is extremely popular with recreational bowlers and it is hoped that we will see more events at the regional levels.
The Indoor Championships for many years has become mostly a Western-specific event as eastern provinces rarely attend. Moving to a Qualification format instead of a “Championship” removes this
concern. While representation from across the country is always desirable for a nationally sanctioned event, there is less focus on this as a requirement for an event that is an international qualification event rather than a national championship.
