Stoke lawn bowler Shannon McIlroy reckons he is as competitive as ever ahead of the Glasgow Commonwealth Games.
The 39-year-old first represented New Zealand in 2008 and made his games debut in India in 2010 where “we got rolled in the quarter-finals of the triples”.
Glasgow will mark his fifth consecutive games appearance.
“I think, as you get older, you make smarter decisions,” says Shannon, who will compete in the singles in the first week of the games.
He is also a reserve for the pairs which he would love to be playing in, given his combination with Ali Forsyth.
Shannon vividly remembers the 2014 games, also in Glasgow.
“I topped my group in the singles, but it was world-class competition and I had to settle for fourth,” recalls Shannon.
Two years later he came out and won the World Indoor Singles Championship in Christchurch.
10 years on, he thinks he’s still at the top of his game, backed up by recent results across the Tasman.
The Richmond resident reached the quarter-finals of the World Indoor Champs in Melbourne in May, and the semi-finals of the Australian Open on the Gold Coast last month.
The matches will be short and swift in Scotland, contested over just seven ends on a portable rink and probably only taking an hour to complete.
En route, Shannon has the perfect tune up, playing in a test series against Ireland and England in Belfast.
