CHAMPIONS have been crowned in a busy weekend of action on the bowls greens, writes Matt Osborne.
County champions were announced on Saturday afternoon at EL Co-op Bowling Club in Tranent.
Kern Gallagher (West Barns) made it back-to-back singles titles in the ELB championships, while Dean Riva (Gifford) signed off his under-25 journey with his fifth junior singles titles.
Lauren Baillie-White (Port Seton) claimed the ladies’ singles title.
East Lothian’s youngest crop of players was on display on the day, with Tranent and West Barns signalling the return of competitive youth bowls.
Tranent, West Barns and Port Seton all have a healthy number of youths attending their clubs weekly and will look to reintroduce some kind of league structure in 2025.
Tranent (Nicholas Herd, Cooper Jones, Lyla Jones and Keir Robertson) overcame West Barns (Jack Hunt, Nathan Gallagher, Nathan Hunt and Finn Tait) in the closest of encounters (9-8).
That was the first Tranent youth four to triumph since 1992/93.
Meanwhile, Port Seton were crowned Division One champions for 2024.
A midweek 6-2 win away at Tranent was enough to see them celebrating with a game to spare.
Dunbar and Aberlady drop back into Division Two for next season.
Elphinstone wrapped up the Division Two title with a 7-1 away win at Prestongrange A and they will be joined in the top flight next season by Castlepark.
Castlepark A and Haddington A slip into the third tier for next season.
East Linton A were confirmed as league champions for Division Three and joined in promotion by Ormiston A, who celebrate back-to-back promotions.
Dunbar A and Prestongrange B fall through the trapdoor into Division Four for 2025.
Gullane and West Barns A were locked at the top of Division Four for the majority of the season and were only separated on the penultimate game as Tranent B secured an 8-0 away win at West Barns A to hand Gullane the advantage.
They duly posted two 6-2 wins to secure promotion as the Division Four champions.
Elsewhere, East Lothian under-25s went in search of the season-ending Calder Cup at Sighthill BC at the weekend.
Rewritten as a top nine tournament, wins against Midlothian, West Lothian, and Angus and Dundee had the youngsters in the semi-final as group winners.
After a confusing and controversial draw, they eventually found themselves lining up against Dumfries in the last four.
A win in the fours, a draw in the pairs and defeat in the triples saw them bow out by just two shots in the short 45-minute format.
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