While the bowling season may well have finished, the Race Night held at the club at the beginning of November proved that there’s plenty of fun and games to be had at Barry Romilly Bowls Club in the off season.
The race night, the brainchild of club member Leigh Cogbill, comprised eight televised races expertly hosted by his father Graham.
Tickets for the event sold quickly and come the night of the event the club was packed and full of eager anticipation. The club had decided that all money raised on the night would be paid out as winnings to the punters, so it was no surprise then that ‘turf accountants’ for the evening, Leigh, Graham and Paul Rebane, were overrun with individuals queuing to bet and hoping for a winner.
Wagers were placed at a furious pace from the very start of the evening, and from the beginning there were some very big winners. In fact, in three of the eight races the winnings were shared by only two punters in each race, and in the penultimate race there was only one successful bet, which netted a very big win for the lucky individual. Notable big winners included Leah Trask who bagged winners in four of the eight races while Mike Simmonds and his partner Xy-za shared seven winners between them, so all three left the Rom with a healthy profit for the night. In the other races the prize money was shared more evenly and by the end of the night a dozen others walked away with healthy winnings.
We were all a little unsure as to how the event might pan out, but we needn’t have worried as the feedback we received suggested that the Race Night was a resounding success, and definitely something we should bring to the club again in the future.
Paul Rebane