Asheville Irish Road Bowling Association

Basic Plans for Southeast Final Weekend

2012-05-30T12:43:00.001-04:00

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

2012-04-24T18:04:00.002-04:00

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

2012-04-07T22:56:00.000-04:00

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

2012-04-07T22:44:00.000-04:00

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!

2012-03-04T14:21:00.001-05:00

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

2011-11-16T12:03:00.002-05:00

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

2011-10-15T17:04:00.001-04:00

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.

Asheville Irish Road Bowling on ABC WLOS

2011-06-10T22:39:00.002-04:00

I was finally able to get a copy of the resent story done by WLOS ABC in Asheville, NC. We actually bowled in Weaverville but they were able to piece together a couple minutes for us. This video is missing the anchor lead in and the graphics but I think it is well done.

So one of the most popular questions I get is why do we have baseball gloves. I am almost positive we are the first group to adopt this but here in Asheville our hills are a little steeper which creates some pretty drastic drops off the road. Baseball gloves have helped us a ton in stopping the bowls from getting us in bad situations. We have saved a lot of time. Also it is much safer than stopping a bowl with your feet if it is headed towards danger!

Let us know if you have any questions!

The AIRBA on WLOS

2011-05-09T17:05:00.001-04:00

Irish Road Bowling on WLOS

Many thanks to WLOS for their great story on the Asheville Irish Road Bowling Association. Click the link to check out the story.

Bold Life Article on road bowling in Asheville, NC

2011-03-01T13:19:00.001-05:00

Bold Life on the AIRBA

The March issue of Bold Life is out and the Asheville Irish Road Bowling Association is featured in their Culture section. When I think of our club and its members "cultured" in not the first word to come to mind but it is right up there! Please take some time to check it out at the link above as it was very well done.

Photo by Matt Rose

Many thanks to Jonathan Rich for taking the time to write it and to Matt Rose for some great photos including the one I added to this post.

We are looking forward to 2011 and will be out bowling sometime soon. We have 25 or 26 people heading to the Irish Spring Festival in Ireland, WV in three weeks so hopefully our teams can put together some good scores.

We look forward to seeing everyone hopefully sometime in April if the weather permits!

Bold Life on the AIRBA

Asheville Irish Road Bowling Store

2011-02-21T20:47:00.000-05:00

Well in an attempt to pay for some things like a metal detector, the website, and some extra bowls we have put together some pint glasses that will be up for sale on the website shortly.

I am just finishing up our store and they will be ready to go. Of course I will probably keep some in the car with me at all times for anyone that knows me.

They will be on sale on the site for $5.99 and there will be a bit of a discount for ordering multiple glasses and a shipping discount as well. If you see me out it is just $5 to save us all a little time and hassle of dealing with change.

Looking back at 2010

2011-02-12T14:41:00.001-05:00

Well 2011 is here and we are looking forward to our annual journey to Ireland, WV for the 2011 Irish Spring Festival. Since we have not quite gotten there yet I thought I would take a little time to put together a compilation of the fun times we had in 2010.

We look forward to seeing everyone in 2011! I also added a bonus video below for those not as familiar with Irish road bowling.

For anyone that has never been road bowling here is a live action shot from the 2009 North American Region Finals.

Irish Spring Festival 2011

2011-01-14T23:04:00.002-05:00

We are getting ready for another Irish Spring Festival in Ireland, WV. Below is some info from the AIRBA meetup.com site but I thought we could lead in with a photo showing just where you may end up if your bowl does not roll straight or the road turns just a bit too much.

Lusher says meet me in Ireland, WV!

http://www.meetup.com/Asheville-Irish-Road-Bowling-Association/calendar/15338567/

"March 19th at 2:30PM (usually) Teams of 4
March 20th at 1:30PM (usually) Teams of 2

It may be early but for those that have made the trek in the past they know we need to plan a little in advance because this one is in Ireland, WV.

If anyone that has never been before would like to go just let me know and I can give advice on lodging and things to do while you are up there. I would also recommend looking into carpooling and maybe setting up your teams in advance. There are always other bowlers up there who need teammates but those of us who have gone multiple years usually set that up in advance. Drop me an email if you are going and I can help get everyone organized. Also we usually have to get back and can't bowl on Sunday but I am sure some might want to bowl both days.

For the veterans of the group you know the drill. It will be a little different this year for Jess and me with Grady tagging along but we will definitely be there.

More info to follow."

The Get Back To Bowling Cup

2010-10-02T14:30:00.002-04:00

We have had a bit of a break from Irish Road Bowling in the middle of the season but we are heading back out for one more round of matches Saturday, October 9th! Join us at the Get Back To Bowling Cup!

Check out our Meetup Group to RSVP and get directions! It is not required to RSVP but helps me to know how many people we have bowling.

Who knows maybe we can have more people than the last time out...

The Uncle Sam Invitational

2010-06-06T21:01:00.002-04:00

Join our meetup group at AIRBA Meetup Group and you can keep up with out next matches. Below is our next.

Jul 3

Uncle Sam Invitational

Saturday 1:00 PM

I am not sure how many folks will be around for 4th of July weekend but I figure nothing is more American than Irish Road Bowling... ok, maybe not yet but we are integrating it nicely so far.
It will probably be a small one and I am hoping we find a new road between now and then but feel free to join us.

Faugh a Ballach!

2010-04-29T19:49:00.003-04:00

The Road Bowlers

(click link above)

The AIRBA stumbled across this excerpt from a new short film on Irish Road Bowling called The Road Bowlers. Take some time to check it out as it has some interesting shots for all. For those that have never bowled before it gives a pretty good idea of what a normal day tossing some bullets is like (except for the total number of observers). For those that go regularly in the Asheville area it is a different overall scene with the crowd in the road.

AIRBA Meetup.com Group

2010-04-14T22:53:00.001-04:00

For anyone that uses www.meetup.com please join our group. I would highly recommend setting up an account if you are looking for active groups in your area and it offers a few advantages that Facebook cannot quite provide.

http://www.meetup.com/Asheville-Irish-Road-Bowling-Association/

First 2010 Event

2010-04-14T22:50:00.000-04:00

We are hoping to have our first 2010 event on May 15th so keep up with the Blog and other sites (facebook, meetup, etc) for updates on the time and location

http://www.meetup.com/Asheville-Irish-Road-Bowling-Association/calendar/13187339/?a=facebook

Irish Spring Festival 2010

2010-03-21T22:13:00.000-04:00

The Asheville Irish Road Bowling Association made its annual trip to Ireland, WV for the Irish Spring Festival. I am sure we will have some tournaments in our own backyard shortly so keep an eye on the blog for any updates. Team Riot Punch consisted of members from Asheville and Charlotte and the final score on the 2.2 mile course was a 44.

Road Bowling This Weekend

2010-03-05T11:30:00.000-05:00

We are looking to go road bowling possibly on Sunday. If interested just let us know at jhunter@ashevilleroadbowling.com or post a comment on here.

A video for the offseason...

2010-02-20T16:22:00.000-05:00

Well we are getting close to bowling in 2010 so here is a little reminder of good weather and good bowling.

St. Patty's Day in Ireland, WV

2010-02-04T15:37:00.000-05:00

The Asheville Irish Road Bowling Association will be making a trip up to Ireland, WV for the Irish Spring Festival. If anyone from the Asheville area (or anywhere else) is interested just let us know at by contacting us through our contact information here on the blog or on the website and we would be happy to pass along any information.

We can help give some options with lodging, directions, and general suggestions about the area. It is about a 6 1/2 hour drive from downtown Asheville and will be the weekend of March 19th, 20th, and 21st.

Asheville Irish Road Bowling Association

2010-02-03T15:59:00.001-05:00

Welcome to the new AIRBA Blog!

The blog setup on the website is very limited on what you can do when it comes to adding photos and overall professional look so I decided to go the free blogspot route and everyone can follow upcoming events from here.