Gunnedah has two new national champions.
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Tim Thorning and Ella Cameron were both part of gold medal wins at the 2023 Australian under 18 championships in Perth.
Thorning combined with Billy Waite, Thomas Rich and Travis Moran to account for Victoria 19-6 and win the fours title, the win also helping NSW to clinch the overall gold.
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Cameron meanwhile skipped the combined NSW/Victorian girls to a somewhat of a surprise gold in the triples, with the composite side upsetting the more-fancied NSW 16-13 in the final.
In the fours, Thorning and his NSW team-mates pulled off what looked an unlikely victory when they lost their opening game to Tasmania 19-12, with only the top side from each of the two pools advancing to the gold-medal game.
But they rebounded to defeat ACT 21-9 and Western Australia (21-4) and finish on top after Tassie's one-shot loss to the hosts in round 2 opened the door for them.
They still needed results to fall their way but luck was on the Blues' side as Tassie were only able to beat ACT by 13 shots, three short of the 16 they needed to progress.
Building off their strong finish to the sectional games, they were then relatively untroubled in the final.
For both Thorning and Cameron, their first time playing at the nationals, Thorning's dad, Scott, said it was a great result for them to win gold.
The former also picked up silver in the triples following an 18-14 loss to Victoria in a tight and see-sawing final.
Continuing what has been his most successful year on the green, Scott said Tim played some good bowls over the two days.
"He played really well in the triples," he said.
"He struggled for a little while in the fours. He just couldn't find his rhythm on the Saturday.
"But he played pretty well in the final."
As did the the whole team.
Scott only really got to see Cameron play the final, with her and Tim playing next to each other, but said she played really well in that.
Teaming up with Tahlia Kennedy and Taylor De Greenlaw, en route to the final they defeated the South Australia (16-14), Queensland (18-11) and Victoria (22-16) combinations and played some sensational bowls.
