Centre triples cup titles decided

Bowls - Womens Centre Triple Winners - Jo Wroe, Glenda Kapene, Jo Sturmey with Judy Blair Cup.

The first Bowls Gisborne-East Coast centre events for 2024 — held last weekend — showcased the resilience of the district’s lawn bowlers.

Te Karaka Bowling Club hosted the men’s centre triples for the Terry Gardiner Memorial Trophy. It was the first centre event to be held there since silt from Cyclone Gabrielle covered the club’s green and killed the grass.

The green was planed and resown, and a team of Te Karaka club bowlers celebrated the renewal by lifting the winners’ trophy.

Skip Paddy Stewart, director David File and lead Steve Goldsbury beat the Tolaga Bay team of Peter Mitchell (s), George Tamihana (d) and Keith Tamanui (l) 18-11.

The trophy for the women’s centre triples, the Judy Blair Cup, was won by the Wairoa Bowling Club team of Glenda Kapene (s), Jo Wroe (d) and Jo Sturmey (l).

They beat the Poverty Bay team of Jan Powell (s), Lesley Seymour (d) and Erin Sutherland (l) 20-13.

This, too, was a notable achievement, as the Wairoa club greens are still out of action because of the damage caused by Cyclone Gabrielle.

The women’s tournament was held at the Kahutia Bowling Club.

Both competitions had eight entries and the results from the first day’s play determined the seedings for the post-section, knockout games on Sunday.

Top qualifiers in the men’s competition were the Kahutia team skipped by July Hoepo, but they were defeated in the first round on Sunday by Mitchell’s eighth-seeded Tolaga Bay team.

In the semifinal, Mitchell’s team defeated the other Tolaga Bay team – Ben Elkington (s), Vern Alder (d) and Mark Walker (l). Elkington’s team led 9-7 after 10 ends then lost 10 shots in the next three ends to eventually lose 18-11.

Tolaga Bay did well to have two teams in the semifinals.

They will benefit from the experience when they represent the centre at the national inter-club competition in Auckland in April.

Stewart’s Te Karaka team defeated the Poverty Bay team of John Andrews (s), Jack Clark (d) and Bruce Gledhill (l) in the semifinal and went on to play Mitchell’s Tolaga Bay team in the final.

Stewart’s team got out to an early lead in the final and were up 17-3 after 10 ends, and 18-11 at the end.

In the women’s competition, Kapene’s winning team had two losses on Saturday but came through on the second day to finish with convincing wins in the semifinal and final.

They had one of several close games in Sunday’s first round, when they beat Kathryn Flaugere’s team 14-13.

The other close contests were between teams skipped by Jan Powell and Carol Hawes (Powell won 16-15), and Sharon Olsen and Anita Vaotuua (Olsen won 15-14).

In the semifinals, the Poverty Bay team of Powell, Seymour and Sutherland had a convincing win against the Tolaga Bay team of Olsen, Delores Woodcock (d) and Jackie Horsfall (l).

Kapene’s team defeated the Kahutia team of Glenys Whiteman (s), Dayvinia Mills (d) and Karen Pinn (l) 19-13.

In the final against Powell’s team, Kapene impressed with her tactical play and experience. She was able to manage her team to build a lead and then protect it.