The event has been an institution for the club and its move to Club Mudgee is set to give it a new lease of life, with local officials hoping for two quality days of action. 

Mudgee Bowls Club secretary Alan Clarke said 26 teams have so far registered and said the strong numbers are largely down to the Pairs event being competitive and well run in past years. 

“We would prefer if we had 28, but given we are competing against towns within travelling distance for numbers on the same day we’ve done really well,” Clarke said.

“There is a big tournament on in Lithgow on the same day and they haven’t got the numbers we have. 

“Part of that is down to the return players, but when we started this event we didn’t have other clubs like Coonabarabran and Parkes who have tournaments on as well, but it’s good we have got teams that have been coming for a number of years making another trip.”

The prize pool of $3400 has brought out several highly-fancied pairs from strong club around the region, 

“We have got good city teams coming here, teams from Blayney and Orange plus we’ve got our own high grade players who will be representing Mudgee,” Clarke said, 

“We will be up there given we are into one of the zone finals with our higher grade, so we’ve got some good quality players. 

Jae Marskell and Anthony Rich are expected to be the best chance for Mudgee to keep the title in house with the pair showing promising form in recent weeks. 

Several other top Mudgee players are not expected to play alongside long-time pairs partners which throws open the door to a darkhorse pairing to claim the top prize or cause upsets along the way,

Action at Club Mudgee starts at 9am on Friday and Saturday and will consist of games of 14 ends, which should see play finish around 5.30pm each day.