British Isles Championships 2024- Ladies Pairs Preview
We have arrived at the week of the 2024 British Isles championships, which will see Scottish champions compete across 14 different disciplines to test their might against their fellow national championship winners. We have been speaking with all the players and teams prior to the event, to get some insight into their feelings ahead of such an occasion, as well as looking at their journey to Leamington Spa. We also sought some insight on the bowlers, by asking them to pick between one of TVs most divisive duos.
We had the opportunity to speak with the skip of our 2023 Bowls Scotland ladies national champions, and one of our representatives making their way to Leamington Spa this week, in Alison Ross from Bainfield Bowling Club.
We have seen a theme of family so far in these previews, and this trend continues with Alison, who was “pretty much brought up in the Bowling Club”. Both of her parents were top quality bowlers, with her mum representing Scotland both indoors and outdoors. Her grandparents both played to a high level too!
Alison summed it up well when describing her journey to Northfield, and then to the title, explaining that every game brought its own challenge. For Alison, and her partner Susan, they said that qualifying for the national finals at Ayr is always such an achievement, and every game after that was an unexpected but welcome bonus!
Anticipating the upcoming competition, Alison said:
“It will be a great honour to represent Scotland in the British Isles championships. When we won at Ayr last year, it felt unreal and very far away. It has rushed towards us!”
Alison and Susan have played together as a team since the early 1990s and have played in different disciplines together over the years, both indoor and outdoor. The two first played together as a pair outdoors four years ago and haven’t looked back! They know what shots the other is comfortable in playing, which is a massive help.
When asked to pick her favourite bowler, Alison struggled. She first pointed to her parents and said that they were her inspiration in the game, before choosing Alex Marshall as her favourite on the scene at the moment. She used to play with, and against, ‘Tattie’ at Bainfield Indoor Bowling Club and said that his ability was obvious from an early age.
Alison opted for Dec in the non-bowling related question, though confessed that he only won it because of a coin flip!
Susan and Alison will be in action in the second session of Day One (26th June, 13:30), when they will face Alis and Anwen Button of Wales in the semi-finals.