WV Irish Road Bowling

Blackwater State Park Hosts North American Region Finals Event
By Parsons Advocate –
August 6, 2018

By Heather Clower
The Parsons Advocate

Irish road bowling is not a sport known in most areas but that didn’t stop approximately two dozen competitors from Boston, New York, and West Virginia from attending this vent.

Justin Knapp from Huntington closing in on the finish line in a close race with Team New York

The location of this event rotates and won’t be hosted in our state again until 2021. This sport began back in the 1600’s when Irish troops would steel British cannon balls and roll them back to camp. In the 1860’s during the American Civil War, Irish troops would bowl between battles. In 1995, the event came to Ireland, W. Va. and started as four person teams. Today it can be a team or an individual event.

The idea of the sport is to roll the twenty eight ounce cannon ball down the roadway as far as you can. The course for this particular day was 1.1 miles in length. The competitor to get to the finish line in the least number of throws wins the heat. There are many factors to take into consideration to be successful in Irish road bowling. One must have their footing in time, decide which throwing style is best for you (underhand roll or fast pitch softball style), timing of the release, spin put on the ball, strength for maximum speed, and road grade and curves. Once the ball leaves the roadway, the team marker will bring it parallel back to the roadway and mark the road where the next throw will begin. A road shower assists the throwers by going ahead down the road and evaluating the grade to help guide them for proper roll placement to aid in the best throw possible.

There are very few rules to this event. The main one is called “breaking butt”, which means you crossed the line on a throw where your last ball landed, and you must throw again. In tight curves or where two road corners meet, the ball can be hurled through the air but it must strike the road. If it doesn’t reach the road, it counts as one shot but the next throw must be taken from behind that mark. In the case of two competitors reaching the finish line with the same number of throws, the winner is dictated by which throw went furthest past the finish line. The competitors are also broken up by grades. You begin as a novice, or grade four, and if you win the All-Ireland Finals in your respected grade, you advance to the next level.

The competitors who were throwing on Saturday, August 4, had to qualify to compete at this event. Unfortunately for grade two competitor Ken McClintic, Lewis County resident for Team West Virginia, this meant beating out his own son. “We were hoping it would be a one two split, but we ended up playing each other”, said McClintic. Dave Powell, the public relations officer for the WVIRBA, introduced McClintic to the sport back in 2004 and he has been competing ever since. It was then he decided to get it started being played in the state parks, beginning with Holly River State Park. “You can’t beat playing in a state park like this in the outdoors. It is family friendly, too”, stated McClintic. Though he has never been to Ireland or past the North American Regionals, he is hoping to soon change that.
Stephen Holmes II, President of the WVIRBA is serving his third year in the elected position. “There are twenty two other events in West Virginia, predominantly in state parks”, Holmes explained. There is no fee to play and it is open to the public. West Virginia offers team events and everyone who wants to throws. Holmes said his goal for the event is he is “trying to promote the people to get outside and exercise and enjoy the outdoors”. Holmes was proud to say the West Virginia club is currently the biggest in North America, open to both men and women.

Bryan Wimer from Morgantown scopes the terrain as his wife and three sons look on

At the conclusion of the tournament on Sunday, Team West Virginia was well represented. Results were as follows: Novice 4 Andy Shay – Team WV from Buckhannon, Novice 3 Morgan Ware -Team WV also from Buckhannon, Novice 2 Kevin McGrath – Team Boston, Novice 1 Lyndon Kiely – Team Boston, Ladies Class Kristen Daft – Team WV from Reedsville, and Junior C Champion Adrian Lappin – Team New York. Lappin is a four time All Ireland Champion and one of the highest rated bowlers in North America. Good luck to all of these North American Regional Finals winners and good luck at the All Ireland Championship! If you would like to learn more about this sport, check out their facebook page West Virginia Irish Road Bowling, or their website www.wvirishroadbowling.com

BRUCETON MILLS, W.Va. (AP) — It sounds as if it ought to be a drinking game: Grown men and women hurl a 2-pound cannonball as far as they can down a paved country road, each aiming to finish the 1.5-mile, chalk line “course” with the fewest throws.

But in some circles, Irish road bowling is serious business.

Players and coaches — or players who think they’re coaches — stand in the road as a competitor pauses, studying the slope and the curves before taking a few running steps and pitching the ball underhand, releasing it just before his velocity carries him across the starting line. The ball rolls and the crowd parts, screaming, leaning, gesturing and otherwise willing the iron and steel sphere to stick to the pavement.

When the roll is good, they pump their fists and bellow cheers that echo through the forest. When it’s bad, the hurler hears silence or a few noticeably lower-volume words of encouragement.

“Irish road bowling is the greatest sport you haven’t heard of,” says Dave Powell, membership director and spokesman for the West Virginia Irish Road Bowling Association.

Road bowling is one of the oldest sports in the world, and one of the easiest and cheapest to get into. It requires no uniform and no gear, save for a 28-ounce cannonball, or “bowl,” that the West Virginia group will rent for $5 per day. Play occurs on paved road but seldom stops traffic. The action merely resumes after vehicles pass. Only during the largest competitions are roads closed to motorists.

The sport originated in Ireland and is played primarily in five counties there — Cork, Armagh, Louth, Mayo and Wexford — where it’s known as “Irish Long Bullets.” Crowds of spectators can number in the thousands, the masses filling the road but parting magically as the bowl begins to roll. There, the game is played every night of the week and provides regular entertainment and income for gamblers, with tens of thousands of dollars routinely and legally changing hands.

Janet O’Mahoney, 42, of Boston, is the wife of two-time All-Ireland champion Florrie O’Mahoney. She’s traveled to his home country more than 20 times to watch some 150 matches, called “scores.”

The biggest counties have the best players “because they’re at it constantly,” she says, but even children under 12 compete.

“Here, obviously it’s a lot smaller and there are less people,” she says, “but as sportsmanship goes, it’s the same.”

In West Virginia, road bowling was first taken up by the Lewis County town of Ireland during the 1995 Irish Spring Festival. The state association has been holding tournaments ever since, mainly at festivals and fairs. Last year, about 1,000 people played, though only 25-30 are what Powell calls “hard-core” regular competitors.

Powell, a photo and film researcher who grew up near Salem and now lives in Washington, D.C., says road bowling can be “a real fun roll-and-stroll for families,” but the tone was “extremely serious” when teams from Boston, New York and North Carolina turned out for the early August North American Region Finals at Coopers Rock State Forest in West Virginia.

Winners in some classes advance to the All-Ireland finals, or world championships, this September.

Unlike the Boston club, whose members live within an hour of each other and can play twice a week, the West Virginia players are far-flung and have far less time to play together and practice.

“Road bowling really requires a combination of coordination and speed,” Powell says. “If you’re beautifully accurate but you don’t have the speed, you’re not going to be able to excel. If you’re really strong and fast, and you don’t have the accuracy, you’re going to be in the ditch too quickly.”

Some throws are as long as 300 yards, a distance determined by where the bowl comes to rest, not where it leaves the road. And it almost always leaves the road.

In West Virginia, the longest shot on record is a 422-yard roll at the 2001 Irish Spring Festival.

The state association launched a competitive singles league last year, and interest has been growing among spectators and players. The next competition is Aug. 18 at the Doddridge County Fair in West Union, and events are scheduled through Nov. 4, when the season wraps up at Stonewall Resort in Roanoke.

“Anyone who lives in the state of West Virginia can get to one of our events in about an hour,” Powell says. The biggest are the Irish Spring Festival in March and an October tournament at Holly River State Park.

Carl George of Buckhannon says road bowling is harder than it looks, but anyone can do it.

“It’s a lot of fun, a lot of exercise, and it doesn’t cost much,” he says. “It’s really a good time.”

Source: My SA

WBOY: Posted: Aug 04, 2012 5:25 PM EDT Updated: Aug 04, 2012 7:12 PM EDT

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