Royal Leamington Spa’s Dawn Horne takes two trophies at county finals

Royal Leamington Spa’s Dawn Horne collected two trophies at the Warwickshire Women’s County Finals held at Lillington Bowls Club last weekend.

Playing with Jenny Wickens and Janice White in the Triples final, they faced a team from Coventry Avenue. Despite taking 4 shots on the first 2 ends, the RLS trio then dropped shots on the next 5 ends to trail 4-8.

The two sides traded singles before a couple of 4’s in a run of four scoring ends put Horne, Wickens and White seemingly in control, 16-9 ahead after 13 ends. However, the Coventry triple fought back to leave the game tied at 16 shots apiece going into a very tense final end. An early bowl dropped on the jack by Horne proved crucial though, as Horne, Wickens and White finished 17-16 winners, to take the County Triples title for the second time in the last 3 years.

One hour later, Horne was back in action, against Welford’s Lisa Smith, in the 2-Wood Singles final. This was a much more one-sided affair, with Horne taking the match 17-5 after just 17 ends.

In other finals, RLS’s Caroline Edwards, Anita Cowdrill and Tracey Turner-Smith narrowly lost their 2-Bowl Benevolent Triples final 10-11, when the opposition drew shot with the very last bowl of the match.

In Sunday’s “Top Club” final, Welford defeated RLS 3-1 in a repeat of the 2021 final. The single RLS win came courtesy of a 19-11 win in the Pairs game played by Horne and White.