REPRESENTATIVE bowlers will travel to the ends of the state this year, with the North Queensland Challenge for men to be played in Mossman in April and the District Sides Championship at Tweed Heads in May.
The Challenge is an annual event played against North Queensland, Far North Queensland and the Atherton Tablelands. Last year's event was cancelled because of an impending cyclone near Mossman.
The event will be a good lead into the District Sides Championship as Mackay meets Far North Queensland, Southern Downs, North Queensland on day one, then North West Queensland, Leichhardt and Maranoa/Warrego on day two before facing tough opposition on the final day against Gold Coast Tweed, Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast.
The sides for these two events will be selected by Allen Bennett, Brad Bettiens and Trevor Kelly after a trials carnival at the Northern Beaches Bowls Club on the last weekend of February.
Ladies event
The ladies clubs will be represented at the District Sides Championship and will need to be on their game on day one against Brisbane, Port Curtis and the Sunshine Coast before meeting Gateway, Wide Bay/Gympie and Leichhardt on day two and Brisbane North, Gold Coast Tweed and Burnett on the final day.
The ladies will travel to Edmonton in July for games against their north Queensland rivals.
Take on the best
Club bowlers will have the chance to meet with and play against the best bowlers in Australia and from overseas if they nominate for the 2016 Australian Open before entries close on April 3.
Bowls Australia chief executive Neil Dalrymple said the organisation was forecasting a sizeable increase in entries, given the appeal to a wider demographic with the increase of disciplines and positive response of the event's move to the Gold Coast last year.
"After the success of the first year on the Gold Coast, which saw more than 2100 entries, we're expecting even more players to participate this year, so much so that we will need to utilise three additional venues and an extra day of competition," he said.
"We are also restructuring the prize money distribution so that it rewards a greater number of bowlers, making it more enticing for players to compete and get a return on their entry fee."
The additional day of competition is required to accommodate two new disciplines, which will appeal to the more traditional bowler, with the event now running from June 11-24 this year.
Players from across the country and globe will compete in 20 disciplines on offer, with the addition of the men's over-60s pairs and women's over-60s pairs set to widen the appeal of the marquee event to even more participants.
The Mackay District has not scheduled any events for the duration of the championships to enable bowlers to compete if they choose to.
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