Invitations have now been sent out for the prized annual tournament, which will be run over the weekend of April 17 and 18.

Tournament organiser Neville Townsend said he expects strong support once again for the popular event.

"Women can now play pennants with the men and that's opened bowls right up. I'm hoping that it will be a success and I myself and the club are keen to run it under the new format

"I'm now busy getting the invitations out to many throughout the Western Districts. They often come from places like Oberon, Manildra, Parkes and Orange for this one. We cover a big area."

The tournament will see each team play three games across the weekend, each being 18 ends with a point awarded for each end won and five points for the match win.

Even in the initial stages of team sign ups the club has been happy with the early interest.

"We've had good mixture of players sign up already. I've got one team coming from Griffith and another player from Crookwell," Townsend said.

"It's great that word is getting out there so I'm definitely pleased."

The competition has been a staple of the Bathurst bowling community for over half a century.

Townsend said it's a prize many bowlers around the region would love to put their names on.

"Originally it was at the old RSL Club and started in 1956," he said.

"We've got a magnificent trophy which the winners get engraved onto each year. In 2003, with the support of the club, it became a major event with two games on the Saturday and one on the Sunday.

"This year the tournament has changed from the ANZAC Triples to being the ANZAC Open Triples."

Meanwhile, Alby Homer, Luke Dobbie and Kevin Miller recently took part in the NSW State Finals of the reserve triples at Ettalong where they fared strongly.

The trio went through the pool stages undefeated, then into the semi-finals where they narrowly went down on an extra end.