The result was in doubt until the last bowl was delivered by the Hawes team. This bowl achieved only a drawn game, which meant they finished in second place.
Prizes were awarded by Pip Griffin, representing Ryman Healthcare, with trophy donor Dawne Abraham in attendance.
OPEN SINGLES CLUB CHAMPIONSHIPS — September 23 and 24.
Games up to semifinal were decided over two hours. The semifinals and final were won by the first bowler to gain 21 shots.
Val McGreevy won the women’s competition. She retained her two lives, winning the final against June Stichbury 21-10 in 20 ends after a strong start.
The semifinal to decide McGreevy’s opponent was a closely fought affair between Ora Peipi and June Stichbury.
With the score at 20-18 with Peipi holding a match-winning three shots, Stichbury played a miracle last bowl to tip the jack over, gain shot and advance to the final.
Jeff Davis won the men’s competition, beating Lex Kennedy 21-16 in the final.
Davis was on fire as he took a five-point lead after the first two ends.
Kennedy fought back to reach 14-all after 15 ends.
With steely determination Davis regrouped and went on to take the title.
The semifinals were closely contested between Lex Kennedy, Bruce Ball, Steve Berezowski and Davis.
Congratulations to junior bowler Jareth Gaskin for his fine performance in group play. Jareth showed great maturity in taking lives from far more experienced players before bowing out.
Upcoming events
September 30 and October 1: Junior Pairs Club Championships.
October 4: McKenzie Shield, eight-point triples open to members of all bowling clubs.
Kahutia
Last weekend saw the start of Kahutias’ club champ triples.
Open men and women played on Saturday while the junior men played on Sunday, with the format for the open being changed from a two-life system.
Four women’s teams played a round robin on the first day.
Saturday saw Glenys Whiteman’s team showing the way with three wins, with Glenys showing early-season form.
They comfortably beat the teams of Lucy Shanks and Lynn Trueman but battled against Marie Wright, just making it past the post on the last end.
On Sunday, Whiteman played Trueman in the final, with Trueman’s team putting up more of a fight. However Davynia Mills, Francie Adair and Whiteman prevailed to take the honours.
It was good to see “under-eight” players Nona Aston, Dianne Oates and Shanks jump in to gain a bit of experience for future endeavours.
The open men had six entries, with the top four going through to Sunday’s post-section play. They were: Charlie Ure, Murray Murton, Mike Chisholm and Mick Maunder.
The semifinals were both a bit one-sided, which showed the consistency of the opposition.
However the final was also a one-sided game. Congratulations go to Alastair Macpherson, who was Mr Consistent over the two days, setting heads up for George Vaotuua, who has had a dream start for the season and (skip) Maunder, who tidied things up at the end when required.
The junior men had two entries and played a two-life system. There was nothing between both teams and each took a life off the other.
In the final, again nothing separated the teams. The winners were Neville Wagner, Joe Wimutu and Marty Ryan. Well done to all. — Vern Marshall
Gisborne
BOB McIlroy and July Hoepo shared skipping duties and Mark Walker led when the trio won the open men’s triples title without losing a life at the Gisborne Bowling Club on Sunday.
Veterans Maurice Taylor (skip), Maurice Allan and Ian Greeks fought hard but ran out of steam after upstaging a seven-team field that read like a who’s who of Gisborne-East Coast bowling to reach the final. The McIlroy combo won 21-11.
Earlier, the Taylor trio beat Jamey Ferris (skip), Robin Jefferson and Ricky Miller 16-9 in one semifinal, and McIlroy knocked out Steve Goldsbury, Tim Sherriff and Kahu Kerekere (standing in for an injured Frank Hosegood) 13-5 in the other semi.
In the open women’s event, Carol Hawes (skip), Anne Day and Lesley McIntosh kept both lives intact in the two-life race, beating Bobbie Beattie, Tanya Harrison and Barbara Gibson 21-15 and 16-12 to seal the championship.
Beverly Davy, on skipping duties for an ailing Kay Goldsbury, and Ginny Sherriff slammed the door shut 23-5 against Kym Brown (skip), Adrienne Torrie and Angela Gibson-Sam in the final of the women’s event for players with less than eight years of bowls experience.
On Saturday, the Goldsbury trio won the first encounter 13-8 before Brown turned the tables for a 12-8 win to force the championship into Sunday’s decider.
Peter Allan (skip), Peter Gledhill and Ryan Douglas traded blows with Don Green (skip), Dan Barr and Roger Dymock in the “under-eight” men’s event on Saturday before clinching the title 16-11 in the final.
