Despite a week of uncertainty leading into the game with player availability, weather, and ground location, a last-minute decision gave the go ahead for the under 13 grand final game at McLennan Park against the Walkerston Roosters.

The young under 13 Proserpine Pitbull Cricket side have been the benchmark all season; they had taken that momentum into training the week before the game, and the only thing left was to follow it through.

Game day, Scrubbies win the toss electing to bat.

A fired-up Captain Donny P (2-5) launched in with a new ball, catching the edge and running to the boundary. He then fired a rocket at the competition’s top scorer, which struck his pad directly in front of middle stump.

He followed this up by knocking over their number three without scoring, with a bit of brilliance from Fed taking a tough chance. This brought big Ollie to the crease.

He soon ripped into the Pitbulls attack, dispatching several deliveries over the boundary, made easier by the fact that Walkerston had changed the bowling ends before the game that suited the left-hander.

The message: “Don’t panic, fellas, stick to the game plan and go hard at the others.”

Ky P got hold of the ball and bowled a great spell (2-10) which included dismissing the locals best opener with a delivery that swung both ways, 4-49.

He was well supported by Jack V (1-5) - who swung the ball everywhere - Malakai G (1-6), Josh G (1-1), and Lewis Mc (1-18) who took the prized scalp of the Big O with a great ball on the off stump corridor, resulting in a mistimed drive to mid-off which Fed managed to keep hold of, with a great turn and run over the shoulder catch.

Scrubbies all out 84.

Message at the break: “Stay calm, bat your 20 balls, bat for 25 overs and you’ll win, but it won’t be easy.”

The Prossie openers strode to the crease.

A poor leave by Ky P (1) soon had him heading back to the sheds, and Angus H (6) withstood the onslaught for 15 balls, before being caught trying to move the score along.

Captain Donny P and “Gun Bat” Lewis Mc came together to steady the ship, both retiring at their 20 balls.

Jack V (13) then joined in and played beautifully to get the Pitbulls to 2-51, and things were looking good.

He then hit one to cover on his 20th ball, which was caught, however it was a no-ball, but whilst celebrating, was run out.

Time for the middle order to stand up; Josh G (10) and Malakai G (7) pushed the team along to 3-68 before Josh was caught behind. Malakai went the very next ball 5-68 and the pressure was building. However, Axel.G (5) and Fed.R (4) had other ideas and batted magnificently under immense pressure to get the side close to the target at 5-80.

But then another double wicket surge and Pitbulls were 7-80 with 5 runs to win and no wickets left in the shed.

The scene was set for returning batsman Capt Donny P and Player of the Year Lewis Mc to seal the deal.

The fired-up attack ripped in with Lewy on strike, dot ball, the sighs of the nervy Pits supporters evident.

The next ball, on middle stump, and what else would the “Gun Bat” do? Play across the line, clearly disregarding his father’s well-intentioned advice, and smash it for 4.

Coach, trying to hold his nerves, said, “Boys, plenty of time, no rush, no risk.”

Next ball, bowler comes in, Lewy pushes into the covers straight to a fielder, “yes” is the call, the throw is good, Lewy in trouble at this point, a draw looming, but the bowler drops it.

Job done.

The journey for most of this group started last year; the leadership group of Donny, Jack and Ky, which has rubbed off on all players.

They are a great bunch of boys who listen, are respectful, and simply love playing cricket.

Congratulations and well-done, boys. You were the best team all year by far and are deserved Premiers as you are the best.

Contributed with thanks to Mark Porter

The Proserpine Pitbull U13 Premiers

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Wednesday’s competition was a single stableford event sponsored by Bowen Golf Club, with the Ladies’ winner Janice Bates 38pts, runner-up on a countback Ruth Dunn 36pts, and Men’s winner Ian Garrod 41pts, runner up Kevin Cross 39pts.

The weekend competition at the club hosted a Single stroke event for the March monthly medal and qualifying rounds for single Matchplay.

Ladies’ winner on a rain-soaked Saturday was Sarnie Eisemann 72 nett, runner up on a countback Lynelle Riley 73 nett. Turkeys’ nests Claire Garrod, Marg Need.  

Lynelle had an OBP on #9 and won the Car wash voucher, while Men’s winner on Sunday was Ernie Parker 66 nett, runner up on a countback Tom Wikander 68 nett.

This weekend is a single stableford sponsored by Axis Sport.

Contributed with thanks to Grace Nott

The March Monthly Medal winners

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Seventeen players took part in the Vets Monthly Medal last Thursday in what were reasonable conditions.  

Scoring was not easy with the ladies’ winner being Lyn Muller (71), second Mandy Patterson (73). For the men the winner was Peter Browning (72), second Peter Fox (73) and in the run down were Colin Hounsell (82), Barry Mortimer (76).  

Nearest the pins for the ladies were Jenny (9th), Mandy (in the hole 13th) and Lyn (16th) the mens nearest the pins went to John (9th) and Vic Feldman (13th and 16th).  

Least putts went to Lyn (23) and Barry (27).  There were 4 chip ins, Peter Fox, Leanne, Beryl Nosworthy and Tina Badenhorst.

Next week’s event will be a “multiplier,” a Stableford event where you and your partner multiply your Stableford score for each hole and the team with the highest total at the end of the round wins.

Contributed with thanks to Paula McQuat

Peter Browning & Lyn Muller

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Another 'Hole in One' this week, a first for a very excited Rhys Bartholomew, conquering the 11th Hole!

Mick Bond was the Friday Prawn Run winner this week with an impressive 23 points, followed by Jay Angel and Tim Harris also on 21. Jay took the placing with a count back.

Saturdays Skins competition provided a few showers but didn't stop Club Captain Glenn Rees from playing well and taking the win.

Terry Kimpton took home two NTP prizes and Asher Ventham won the other, with thanks to Whitsunday Transit and Zambrero for the prizes.

The weather was not our friend on Sunday and competition had to be cancelled.

Next weekend a 4BBB is scheduled, however, the committee have made a change and will instead be offering an 18-hole, open stableford therefore members will be able to play at any time of the day.

Friday and Sunday comps will run as scheduled (weather permitting).

Contributed with thanks to Kate Cross

Rhys Bartholomew, this weeks Hole In One conqueror

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In very welcome cooler conditions, 65 participants ran, jogged and walked the 5km waterfront course.

Ten participants joined for their first time, plus eight participants recorded new personal bests - well done, Ben, Gus, Laura, Stephanie, Susanne, Amanda, Geoff and Josiah!

Rodger Walker and Kara Olver completed their 150th parkrun, too.

The event was made possible by 15 wonderful volunteers: Kara Olver, Margaret Coote, Sebastian Vinci, Aimee Sulzberger, Joshua (Photographer), Nathalie Blomme, Toma King, Christopher Harvey (Run Director), Karen Jordan, Susanne Willmott, James Henry, Ashley Gerrard, Laura Oates and Lynne Oates.

On Saturday the Whitsunday Running Club will be offering pacing for 22:30, 25:00, 27:30, 30:00, 32:50, 35:00 and 37:30 minutes.

The weather should continue to be cooler, so come along and try for a fast time.

In addition, this Saturday is that day that Airlie Beach parkrunners will collectively complete over 20,000 parkruns, covering over 100,000km, so be sure to come along to celebrate these milestones.

Every Saturday Airlie Beach parkrun meets at 6:50am for a briefing at area D, Coral Sea Marina (adjacent to the top carpark). Parking is free in the lower carpark till 9:30am if a parkrun barcode is placed on the dashboard.

The full results and a complete event history can be found at https://www.parkrun.com.au/airliebeach/results/latestresults/

Further photos and details about registering can be found on the Airlie Beach parkrun facebook page.

Contributed with thanks to Airlie Beach Parkrun

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The Cannonvale Cannons have had a mixed week, starting with a super-hot Club Night on Wednesday night with 54 swimmers participating.

Later in the week the weather turned worse during the Saturday afternoon of the Club Championships.  

Unfortunately, the championships were disrupted due to the stormy conditions, with the club planning to finish the events on Wednesday night.  

The coaches were very pleased to see swimmers continuing to achieve PBs so close to the end of the local swim season.  

41 personal best times were set on Wednesday.  

Congratulations to Isabella Pisaniello, Eshan Helou and Jack Ganter for winning the Chocolate Award for their outstanding PBs.  

Koa Harland and Taj were in excellent form, swimming PBs in all their races, and Heidi Hiscox took over 2 seconds off her Breaststroke and Freestyle events.

Millie Groom slashed over 9 from her previous best time in breastroke, and Jack Ganter swam a super 200m IM in 3.15.51 which was close to a 10 second PB.

Don Algie swam a fantastic 10.3 second PB in his 100m Backstroke, while Jasper Korosec swam a very smooth 12 Breaststroke and excellent time of 24.76 seconds in his 25m Freestyle.  

Connor Lee  swam extremely well, setting PBs in his Breaststroke, Freestyle and Butterfly, while the pair of sisters, Abi and Lily Maher, both swam impressive times in their 50m Breaststroke.  

Congratulations to all the other swimmers who achieved PBs:  Anisa Helou, Lilla Mewha, Shailee Mewha, Alannah Ogilvie, Celeste Orenshaw, Isaac Pisaniello, Nathan Saunders, Lukas Trevaskis, Jai Dennison, Jacob Dewis, Stevie Lee, Charlie Doherty, Evie Doherty, Austin Edwards-Bland, Liam Filewood, Oliver Bond, Remy Hedges and Jax Clayworth.

Well done to all the swimmers and a big thank you to all the parents and volunteers!

Contributed with thanks to Raylene Rasmussen

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This weekend is the first big event of the year for the Whitsunday Sea Eagles as they host the Airlie Beach Australian Football Senior Carnival this Saturday.

The annual event is an AFL Mackay Pre-Season Carnival held at the recently redeveloped Whitsunday Sports Park.

Teams from Mackay and Townsville will battle it out to see who the champion is for both senior men and senior women, as well as youth teams.

The event will begin at 8:30am and run through to 7:00pm.

After a long preseason, often disrupted by rainy Whitsunday weather, the Sea Eagles are looking to build on the success of their 2021 season.

For a side that only started in 2018, the Sea Eagles have become a formidable force in the junior and senior competition in Mackay, underlined by an exceptional senior performance against Bakers Creek last year to end their season, as well as finals runs with the senior men’s side losing out in a nail biter elimination final against the Swans.

Grudges will be held and the Eagles will be looking to make finals footy again this year, with a strong start this weekend.

The fully volunteer run club are also in need of an even greater number of volunteers than usual to help to run one of their biggest fundraisers of the year.

The event is set to allow them to purchase new equipment and playing gear across all grades, meaning everyone wins, as long as the community is out in force

They encourage all players and parents to get down and support the teams and the great sport of AFL.

If you’d like to be a part of filling the volunteer roster for all teams, please contact the Whitsunday Sea Eagles through Facebook, if you can help with any of the following:

Under 12s Canteen/gate shifts; Under 14s  Scoreboard shifts; Under 17s Water Carrier shifts.

They will need all the help they can get with more than 500 people expected to attend the day.

They will also need help with setting up from 7am on Saturday and packing up after the Carnival is finished – so feel free to contact the Whitsunday Sea Eagles to do your part for AFL in the region.

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Tuesday 8 March: D Beel M Elphinstone P Warren S Roome d D Retchless I Laird M Wilson M Drummond.

Sunday 13 March: Unfortunately rain prevented the playing of men’s local pennant with Collinsville. However, as the afternoon fined up, social play went on. Winners for the afternoon were M Arthur  M Elphinstone G Danvers who defeated  D Retchless M Brunker S Brunker. Others R Stitt  G Colquhoun P Tracey d I Laird I Wheeler A Rolfe. T Blair S Shearing L Danvers d L Land  B Myers. G Tierney.

Contributed with thanks to Penny Warren

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Saturday started with a little shower of rain just to set the scene for the day but that didn't cause any of the players any problems.  

Six games of Club Championship Singles were played, starting with Brett Saroglia defeating Todd Leys 25 - 21 in the longest game of the morning.  

Jonathan Bye defeated Marty Flowers 25- 0, and Wayne Handley defeated Barry Saroglia 25 - 6.  

Scott Hamilton defeated Vince Olsen 25-9, Gavin Milne defeated Jim Quod 26-16, and Michael Kinnear defeated Bryan Davy 26-15.

Martin Corr withdrew from the competition and Luchie Gardel progressed to the next round.  

Saturday afternoon, one game of Club Championship Triples started before the rain put an end to any chance of continuing.

Jim Quod, Dale Haack and Wayne Handley defeated Bruce Uhe, Garry Alexander and Peter Lawton 18 - 9.  

The other game was suspended at 12 ends, to be completed at another time when scheduled.

Congratulations to Wayne Handley and Nathan Harriott, with Wayne selected in the District Sides team for both the Challenge Cup to be held in Atherton, April 2 and 3 and the District Sides on the Gold Coast in May.  Nathan has been selected in the District Sides team for May.  

We wish them all the best of bowls.

Contributed with thanks to Heather Brown

Todd Leys and Nathan Dodds between games

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Tuesday 8 March: D Beel M Elphinstone P Warren S Roome d D Retchless I Laird M Wilson M Drummond.

Sunday 13 March: Unfortunately rain prevented the playing of men’s local pennant with Collinsville. However, as the afternoon fined up, social play went on. Winners for the afternoon were M Arthur  M Elphinstone G Danvers who defeated  D Retchless M Brunker S Brunker. Others R Stitt  G Colquhoun P Tracey d I Laird I Wheeler A Rolfe. T Blair S Shearing L Danvers d L Land  B Myers. G Tierney.

Contributed with thanks to Penny Warren

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Jamie Maher tops the Premier League table for the first time ever after his 7/0 victory over one of this season’s debutants Lorraine Woods.

His lead is only by the finest of margins though, as he’s only on top courtesy of better leg difference over both Andy Peel and Jamie Woods currently sitting in 2nd and 3rd place.

Both Jamie and Andy had fine wins of their own on Sunday, Jamie with a 7/2 scoreline over Seamus Rose who had an impressive win last week, and Andy with a 7/1 scoreline over Kameron Reason who’s looking for his first win of the season.

The round was finished off with Garry Robbie and Steve Patmore playing out a 6/6 draw, that’s Steve’s second draw in as many weeks.

Alan Green had his first taste of darts for 2022 taking on the Dom Friend who was looking to bounce back from a 7/2 loss last week, which he did in style, Dom winning comfortably 7/0.

The Premier League is proudly sponsored by Mika Airlie BBQ & Bar and Whitsunday Tattooing.

Contributed with thanks to Jamie Maher

Jamie Woods battling it out in the Premier League on Sunday morning at Mika.

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Meet Yoko, one of Pickleball Whitsundays passionate players who is on-court most Thursday afternoons.

Yoko has been at Pickleball since day one in our region and is always keen to lend a hand to new players as well as playing gutsy Pickleball herself.

Yoko has a tip for newcomers on what not to do in pickleball: do not miss your serve!

Unlike in tennis, there are no second chances or faults in Pickleball, and you can only score in Pickleball when you are serving.

So, it makes sense to develop a consistent reliable serve, rather than trying to absolutely smash it across the court.

Nobody has ever won a Pickleball point by serving insanely and hitting a rocket serve into the net!

She’s one of the faces you can meet at Pickleball Whitsundays on Thursday afternoons and Saturdays.

This Saturday morning past was a bumper for the sport, with even a down pour of rain not stop deterring the persistent pickleballers.

Those out making some noise with their paddles were Carol and Stewart and Frank and Kirsty, to name a few.

Till next week "Paddles Up" for 4.30pm Thursday Afternoon and 7am Saturday Morning.

Contributed with thanks to Jenny Kirkman

Yoko, a Pickleball afficionado

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Only two years ago Henry Snell took to the grid in the Dunlop Supersport 300 on Phillip Island for the first time, and last month the Bowen local conquered the event, setting him up for a potential professional career.

The 16-year-old is North Queensland’s only motorbike racer in the Australian Superbike Series competition, and after round 1 – which comprised three races, where Henry finished in 1st twice and 3rd once – he’s now sitting with a 20-point lead.

Quickly gaining national recognition for his raw talent and blistering pace in the 300cc Supersport Class, Henry has garnered himself a nickname, too – The Bowen Bullet.

The young gun competed against elites in Victoria in a far cry from the dirt tracks of Bowen and this recent achievement puts him in an excellent position to capitalise on a great 2022 season.

Henry started racing at nine and has the goal of racing professionally in Europe.

“There’s races like the Asian Talent Cup and the World Supersport 300 overseas and in Europe that I would like to get into,” he said.

“I really want to ride bikes for a living and if I can do well in the Australian [Supersport 300] I think I can get there.”

Henry is set to race in all eight rounds of The Australian Supersport 300, which feeds aspiring young racers into the senior scene.

It regularly develops riders as young as 16-years-old, with exemptions for exceptional racers meaning they can contest the series from as young as 13-years-old. Henry joined at 14.

Looking ahead to this weekend, The Bowen Bullet will take to Queensland Raceway for Round 2 of the Supersport 300.

“I’m not nervous; I know I have a lot of racers who can help me with getting used to the track,” Henry said.

“I just know I have to capitalise on being in the lead.”

He is also currently seeking a vehicle sponsorship, which would allow him to have a dedicated wet conditions bike which would also act as a backup.

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Lesley Nolan was this week made a life ember of the Club for her loyalty, outstanding service, and contribution to Tennis Whitsunday.

Lesley was President of the Club for many years and was active in all aspects of the Club - not just the running but playing social tennis, fundraising, and more.

For Lesley’s "Heads Up” on benefits of playing social tennis for both adults and youngsters, whether you play singles, doubles or are part of a squad, you are playing with another person.

It requires you to socialize with partners, opponents or members of your squad.

The social benefit for both the young and the young at heart can boost your self-esteem, improve your mood, and provide physical and mental benefits.

Not only is tennis one of the world’s most popular sports, you get to stay connected with others, meet new people, and make new friends.

It boosts confidence, not just for tennis but all areas of life, as well as its mental benefits like fighting off stress and anxiety. The exercise that you get from a game of tennis helps to release endorphins that make you happy.  

The extra benefit for children is that instead of staying glued to their screen and sitting down inside all day, they are outside playing with likeminded children.

Whether it be just a high five, a post-match handshakes and support from parents and coaches, social tennis is a fantastic choice to keep you happy and healthy.

Contributed with thanks to Jenny Kirkman

Lesley Nolan, a new Life Member of Tennis Whitsunday

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Brothers Netball Club is looking for more players aged 11 - 14 to join its fun, family orientated club. The club can arrange $150 Government vouchers to help reduce costs of playing.

Training is Mondays 4pm - 5pm and the club can potentially arrange a lift from school if needed.

Games are on a Saturday.

If you know of anyone who would love to join the club, contact Mel on 0408 737 696.

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