Once again, on August 11, the San Francisco LBC hosted its McLaren Memorial Mixed Triples tournament, named in honor of John McLaren, the gardener and landscaper responsible for the San Francisco park system in its earliest years, not least its most famous one—it was he who insisted the Golden Gate Park include three lawn bowling greens. In addition, he is said to have planted 2 million trees throughout the City’s parks.

Because of ongoing improvements to two of the greens, this year’s tournament was only hosted on one green, and the entry list filled up pretty quickly. A full contingent of 16 mixed triples teams of bowlers from all over the Bay Area and beyond competed in the usual “rotational” format that has been the staple of this tournament since its inception. Each bowler plays each position (Lead, Second, and Skip) for four ends.

And once again, Berkeley bowlers turned out in force and with winning results: of the 48 players on the green, 8 were full BLBC members, and 4 were dual members.

On top of that, only two teams won all three of their games—both with Berkeley representatives. Giulia Gallo and her teammates, Brian Stewart (Newport Harbor) and Mike McNorton (San Jose), took 1st Place, with 3 wins and 24 plus points, narrowly squeezing out the all-BLBC team of Shawn Roney, Annie Brillhart, and Cris Benton, who came in 2nd with 21 plus points.

Congratulations to all BLBC bowlers!