Bowen Island is small enough to feel like a community, and a pretty friendly one most of the time. But occasionally we need to indulge in our natural instinct for tribalism, and have a good old-fashioned set-to with our neighbours.
That's why Bowen Island Golf Club has an annual community challenge tournament, which took place Saturday, May 19, attracting four-person teams from all regions of the island: Cowan Point/Fairweather, Valley/Sunset/Josephine, Tunstall Bay/Sealeigh Park, Bowen Bay/Bluewater, Mt. Gardner/Woods Rd., Cates Hill/Valhalla, Snug Cove/Miller’s Landing, Eaglecliff, Hood Point, and Hood Point West.
The Gwynneth Rogers Community Challenge Trophy was awarded to the winning team by Gwynneth's son Stephen Rogers, whose family knows a thing or two about Bowen communities. Their history on Cowan Point traces back a century. Stephen presented the cup to this year's triumphant neighbourhood: Bluewater. It was represented by the powerhouse team of Kathy Clarke, Peter Clarke, Steve Bellringer and David Bellringer. Keen observers may note that Dave Bellringer does not live in the Bluewater neighbourhood, but our panel of judges allowed his participation as a last-minute substitute for his mother, who was ill. We do not want to hear from the lawyers for runners-up Braden Jolly, Adam Jolly, Barb Rendell and Bob Miller, who represented Hood Point West.
To bring this ruthless competition to a more Bowen-like conclusion, the Bruce and Dorene Russell Community Spirit Award was presented by Bruce himself to Hood Point West for having the most participants. HPW fielded four teams, including the aforementioned runners-up.
And now that that's settled, we can all go back to being one big happy family for another year.
Find out more about the Bowen Island Golf Club and its events here.
