Basic Plans for Southeast Final Weekend

For everyone attending the Southeastern Finals this weekend in Asheville here are our basic plans:

Friday night - Meet at Jack of the Wood around 7PM for some food and drinks and to set up our matches for Saturday morning.  If you are not able to attend but are competing on Saturday please let us know so we can put your name in the hat.

Saturday - We most likely be bowling between 10 and 2 depending on how long everything takes.  We will be bowling on Shope Creek Road which is in East Asheville near Warren Willson College.  We are working on parking although there are a couple empty lots within a short walk or carpool ride to the start of the road.

Sunday - We will set finals times on Saturday although we are guessing it would be somewhat similar to Saturday's time.

Irish Road Bowling – Southeast Region Open

Asheville, N.C.  June 2, 3, 2012

The very old Irish sport of road bowling is new to the USA.  Justin and Jessica Hunter, founders of the Asheville Irish Road Bowling Association www.ashevilleroadbowling.com  will host the first annual Southeast Region Open open- competition beginners’ tournament June 2 and 3 for new clubs and individuals from the Southeastern states, NC, SC, GA, FL, AL, MS, LA, TN, KY, VA.  This will be a meet and greet,  roll and stroll good time in Asheville.  

New clubs are starting all over the USA and Canada. These start-up groups of friends and families also are invited to participate in the national finals (North American Region Finals) in Morgantown, West Virginia, August 3, 4, 5, 2012. This year beginners’ grades, Novice 3 and 4, have been added to the national finals. New players still learning the game will compete against each other for National Champion and Runner Up trophies in each grade.  In Morgantown, learn from experienced road bowlers from Boston, New York and West Virginia who will compete in Junior C, Novice 1 and 2. Winners in these grades will advance to the All Ireland Finals in September. 

In Asheville, players will compete as a group Saturday morning to be graded into Novice 3 or Novice 4 based on number of throws over an approximately one mile course.  Saturday afternoon singles and doubles matches (“scores”) will be held, with finals Sunday morning in both grades.

Experienced players from West Virginia will be on hand to assist but will not be eligible for the Novice 3 or Novice 4 Finals on Sunday.  

This is a chance to get a very old sport rolling in the USA, and where better to begin than on a beautiful mountain road in Asheville, N.C., close by the Biltmore Estate, Grandfather Mountain and many other local attractions. For more info: Justin Hunter 828-333-1561,  jhunter@ashevilleroadbowling.com,  Jessica Hunter 828-333-1561, jesshunter1@yahoo.com.

Southeastern US Region Final

The first (hopefully annual) Southeastern Region Final will be in Asheville, NC this summer. We are inviting road bowling organizations from all over the Southeast US for friendly (and somewhat informal) matches on the Novice 3 and Novice 4 levels. We currently have participants from Asheville, Charlotte, and Charleston, SC hopefully attending as well as some of our good friends from West Virginia.  If you have a club that we failed to invite please email us at jhunter@ashevilleroadbowling.com. 

This will be a first time event with the hopes of expanding in the future with a possible rotation of sites. Obviously we are open to ideas but this invitation is the first step!

I am currently working on lodging options so if your organization does have members who would like to attend and compete please give us an estimate. For Asheville locals if you have any connections that could help us out please let us know. We have a few ideas for roads but this is a big area so if you know of an even better road let us know and we'll go throw some bowls to test it out!

More details to follow.

St. Patrick's Day recap

We are ready to head into a new season after a downtime a little longer than expected.  So here are a few photos from St. Patrick's Day in Ireland, West Virginia.

Toddlers bowled!

I don't care where they live... they're part of the AIRBA

Carrie bowled it straight

Have to teach the little ones early

This is the type of thing you see in WV

Thanks for the help Carrie

Seriously... slow down

Now this is a good looking gang

Good looking guys... especially the one representing Asheville

Jess always with the good form

We can't wait to see everyone in Asheville this year!  A big announcement to follow with another bowling date or two as well!

2012 Season Is Close!

Irish Road Bowling sure is spreading around the United States! I keep getting updates from Google on new events popping up all over so I figured that I would share a few.  We're looking for new roads in the area all the time but for now we will focus a bit on events from other parts of the country.

Of course our great friends in WV have the Irish Spring Festival on St. Patrick's day weekend in Ireland, WV.

http://www.angelfire.com/wv/irishspringfestival/

The folks down in Savannah are having their event the following weekend and who knows... if we get back from WV in time and feel nice and refreshed that would be a great trip.

http://www.aohsavannah.com/

There are matches in Missouri and Kansas. Actually the event in Kansas is happening today!

http://www.whig.com/story/17070404/registration-open-through-monday-for-irish-road-bowling-at-st-patrick-mo-celebration

http://www.lawrencestpatricksdayparade.com/roadbowl.html

There is a second event in WV in Pipestem.

http://www.wvnstv.com/story/17025935/irish-heritage-fetival-returns-to-pipestem-state-park

A few of our group will be in Ireland, WV and we are looking forward to seeing everyone! We should have our first matches of the year in Western North Carolina in the next month or so. Hope everyone gets out and has a chance to bowl in the next couple weeks!

Irish Road Bowling on ESPN

Irish Road Bowling on ESPN

It's our off-season at the moment but I thought I would let anyone interested know that ESPN's Kenny Mayne has a very nice piece on Irish Road Bowling, just click the link above.  It's a good watch if you have a few minutes.

And here is a photo from our last time out... looking forward to Spring already!

Also reminders for anyone that may want to join us in the future for a match we are on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Asheville-Irish-Road-Bowling-Association/113832515298883) and Google+ (https://plus.google.com/u/0/108991726337648326701/posts) or just check out the website.  We've got a couple videos and a lot more info on road bowling there... www.ashevilleroadbowling.com

Fall Road Bowling in Weaverville

Fall Irish Road Bowling

Weaverville, NC

The Asheville Irish Road Bowling Association bowling in Weaverville today and produced a couple new records.  It was a small group that featured a couple doubles matches.  

The team of Scott Carson and Justin Hunter broke the out road record with a 19.  

On the way back in the team of Scott Carson and Aaron Hodges tied Jonathan Brooks and Justin Hunter's record score of 16.  However, they came within mere feet of scoring a 15.

*note, we bowl one road out about a mile and then back.  Also part of the road got a bit of repaving which may have helped a touch but I think we can give credit to continued improvement.

We will be back out again early in 2012 and throughout the year!  Who knows, we may even make it out one more time this year.