Kelvin Kerkow (born 22 April 1969) is an Australian lawn bowls and indoor bowls player and author.

Early life

Kerkow was born in 1969 in

Kingaroy, Queensland Kingaroy is a rural town and suburbs and localities (Australia), locality in the South Burnett Region, Queensland, Australia. The town is situated on the Road Junction, junction of the D'Aguilar Highway, D'Aguilar and the Bunya Highway, Bunya H ...

. At the age of seven, he contracted Guillain–Barré syndrome which led to him being unable to walk for several years. His parents, Ivan and Joan introduced him to bowls when he was unable to play contact sports due to his limited mobility.

Bowls career

Outdoors he won two

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receive ...

s in the singles and triples in the

1996 World Outdoor Bowls Championship The 1996 Men's World Outdoor Bowls Championship was held at the Lockleys Bowls Club in Adelaide, Australia, from 18 to 31 March 1996. The 1996 Women's World Outdoor Bowls Championship was held at Victoria Park, Leamington Spa, England ...

and a

silver medal A silver medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc ...

in the fours at the

2004 World Outdoor Bowls Championship The 2004 World Outdoor Bowls Championship was held at the Northfield Bowls Complex in Ayr, Scotland, from 23 July to 7 August 2004 and Victoria Park, Leamington Spa in England one month later. Steve Glasson won the men's singles Gold defeating ...

. He also secured the

2006 Commonwealth Games The 2006 Commonwealth Games, officially the XVIII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Melbourne 2006 (Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm 2006'' or ''Naarm 2006''), was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth held ...

singles

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

. He is also a three times title winner at the

Asia Pacific Bowls Championships The Asia Pacific Bowls Championships formerly the Pacific Rim Championships was a bowls, lawn bowling competition held between national bowls organisations in the Asia Pacific region. The event was inaugurated in 1985, and it was initially held ...

in 1995, 2001 and 2003. Indoors Kelvin has won three World Indoor Championships Pairs gold medals. In the

1996 World Indoor Bowls Championship The 1996 Churchill Insurance World Indoor Bowls Championship was held at Preston Guild Hall, Preston, England, from 11–24 February 1996. David Gourlay won the title beating Hugh Duff in the final. Ian Schuback and Kelvin Kerkow won the Pairs ...

he partnered

Ian Schuback Ian David Schuback (born 4 September 1952) is a former Australian lawn and indoor bowler. Biography Schuback bowled for the Coolangatta club in Queensland and was also a former professional tennis coach. He started bowling in 1980 after watc ...

, and in the

2005 World Indoor Bowls Championship The 2005 Potters Holidays World Indoor Bowls Championship was held at Potters Leisure Resort, Hopton on Sea, Great Yarmouth, England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west ...

and

2009 World Indoor Bowls Championship The 2009 World Indoor Bowls Championships was held at Potters Leisure Resort, Hopton on Sea, Great Yarmouth, England, from 05-26 January 2009. The event was sponsored by Potters Holidays. Billy Jackson won the Men's singles defeating Robert Wea ...

he partnered Mervyn King. In addition he has won the

at the 2007

World Cup Singles World Cup Singles The World Cup Singles was an event inaugurated in 2005 by the organisation known as World Bowls and was held until 2019. It was contested annually between bowlers from national bowls organisations. The competition was seen as the ...

in Warilla,

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, Australia, the 2006 Scottish International Open and was twice winner of the Welsh International Open in 2004 and 2005.

Other Achievements

*Australian Indoor Singles Winner *Welsh Master Invitation champion 1997 *World Bowls Singles Bronze Medallist 1996 *Australian Representative 1995-2008 *Gold Coast Winter Carnival Singles 1995 *Hub of the Hunter invitation Singles 1994 *Welsh invitation Singles 1996 *Coolangatta Master of Masters 1993 *Golden Nugget invitation Singles 1994 &1997 *Halekulani invitation Singles 1995 *Mt Isla Invitation Singles 1999 *Halekulani Invitation Singles 1999

Publications

In January 2009 Kerkow released his autobiography ''Rolled Gold'' in which he tells the story of his childhood battle with Guillain–Barré syndrome and how lawn bowls helped him overcome his disability with help from his friend Steve Glasson.

Honours

In 2000, Kerkow was a recipient of the Australian Sports Medal. Kerkow received the Medal of the Order of Australia in 2010 for his services as a player, coach and mentor. In 2017, Kerkow was inducted as a Legend in the Bowls Australia Hall of Fame.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kerkow, Kelvin Australian male bowls players 1969 births Living people Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Australia Bowls players at the 2006 Commonwealth Games Indoor Bowls World Champions Commonwealth Games medallists in lawn bowls People from Kingaroy Medallists at the 2006 Commonwealth Games Sportsmen from Queensland