World Pairs contenders Ronnie Duncan and Colin Walker have fellow Dalkeith stadium star Billy Peacock as their middleman in the Midlothian challenge for the Scottish Indoor Bowls Triples Championship that starts with the play down action this weekend.
Peacock is driven by an ambition to emulate the title triumph of younger brother David who skipped Steven Currie and Willie Rankin to success in season 2004/5 while Duncan and Walker enjoy international status with 24 and 33 caps to their name.
East Lothian IBC is one of the venues however instead of competing at the nearby Alex Marshall Arena the Midlothian challengers have been drawn to make their qualifying challenge further a field at Lanarkshire IBC.
The Lanarkshire venue is less familiar territory for Walker and Co who compete with extremely high expectations and the first result they have to deliver is an opening win in the prelim round over Hugh McAvoy, Frank Hills and Thomas Simpson of Cumbernauld.
East Lothian can’t compete on their home carpet so they make the same journey as Midlothian however their banner carriers were only due to be decided by last night’s domestic final that featured Chris Johnston, Ewan Fallen, and Jamie Higgins against Andy Jeffrey, Scott Kennedy, and Billy Mellors. If the Mellors trio have delivered a winning result then that primes them up for a bash at going on to emulate their national title triumph of 2007 however come what may the opening challenge for East Lothian is a prelim clash with Alan Davidson, Eric Cribbes, and Robert Newlands of Fintry.
Bainfield are closer to home with the challengers from the capital city set to parade their skills at The Alex Marshall Arena, which is familiar territory for the trio of Josh Spalding, Daniel Gormley, and John McDermott. The Bainfield triple are all under 30 years of age but are well seasoned campaigners fired up to emulate the title triumph of Craig Paterson, Craig Moss, and Paul O’Donnell who brought the coveted crown back to The Hutchison Crossway Stadium in 2009 and again in 2010. Their opening challenge is in the prelim round and comes in the shape of Berwickshire trio John Jackson, John Renton, and Sam Douglas.
West Lothian IBC compete in the same section with Stewart McMaster, Connor McKendrick, and Blair Mackie carrying the flag and opening in the prelim round against John Darling, David Reid, and Stuart Anderson of Teviotdale.
Balbardie IBC have a bye into the first round proper and face Clydebank but the Bathgate based club haven’t made known their trio to the ruling SIBA authority.
Play continues at Lanarkshire IBC on Sunday but Midlothian takes over from East Lothian for the second and third round play.