British Columbia's provincial bowling champions travelled to Ohio July 30 through Aug. 2 to compete in the 2024 USBC Senior National Championships.
Only those who won 2023 championships within one of the American sates or Canadian provinces, or a designated alternate, had the right to participate at the event, held at Western Bowl and Strike in Cincinatti and all told, bowlers from 47 states and four provinces competed.
B.C. was represented in seven age groups with Duncan Lanes sending Christina Van Aert, Bob Linde, and Peter Guiollon.
Van Aert, a Mill Bay resident, placed fourth overall in the Ladies 50-54 category, good for the top result of the Cowichan group and $325 in her pocket.
Linde placed sixth in the Open 65-69 grouping, earning him $225, and Peter Guillon was 17th in Open 75-plus category. Both men are from Duncan.
"I'm happy to be home after a long summer," Linde admitted last week. While he hadn't won the provincials in his age group, he was an alternate and was able to attend as a result.
Of all the people in the country to attend nationals with, it ended up being his friends from Duncan Lanes.
"Peter and I bowl on the senior league on Thursdays and Christina is on my team on Tuesdays," Linde said with a laugh. "This year all we had from Canada were B.C., Alberta, Manitoba, and Ontario, so we had new friends and lots of new American friends as well," he added.
Three bowlers from Crystal Lanes in Campbell River and one from The Zone in Coquitlam made up the remainder of the B.C. contingent.
Bowling out of Crystal Lanes, Mary Berkenstock was 35th in the Ladies 60-64 division, Lorrie Murphy placed 33rd in the Ladies 70-74 grouping, and Sheila Sormo was 14th in the Ladies 75 plus category.
In the Open 60-64 division, Coquitlam's Kevin Zilkey returned home with the silver medal and $550 for his efforts.
Linde didn't get confirmation he was going to the competition until the end of May, so he didn't have as much time to prepare as he would have liked.
He had actually purchased a camper in Colorado and he was slated to pick up prior to the event so he'd booked a collection of campsites to stay at for the drive back to the Island. He cancelled those reservations and instead rearranged his route to head east to Ohio first.
"It was kind of an amazing experience. I went there with absolutely no expectations," Linde explained. "I damaged my ribs before I left and I am on the waiting list for a knee replacement, so when I got there I chose to bowl with my left hand. I've limited my right-handed bowling."
There was just one problem.
He bowls 19 pins lower left-handed than right, but organizers made him use his right-handed average because that's the one he qualified with.
"The fact that I actually got to the finals and won money was unexpected, and I am very happy to have done it," Linde said. "Everybody struggled, so all I had to do was hang in there."
