Country clubs win seniors

champion of champions four — senior men: The Tolaga Bay team of (from left) Mick Maunder, Vern Marshall, Murray Duncan and Ben Elkington. Picture supplied

TOLAGA bay won the Gisborne-East Coast champion of champions senior men’s fours tournament, while Te Karaka won the senior women’s competition.

Five games of round-robin play settled the contest for both senior women and men at the greens of host club Tolaga Bay.

In the senior men’s first round, Robin Jefferson (skip), Bob McIlroy (director), Ricky Miller (two) and Mark Walker (lead), from Gisborne Bowling Club, defeated Te Karaka team David File (s), John Dawson (d), L Hurrell (2) and Steve Goldsbury (l) 14-12.

In the second game, Gisborne had a 19-6 win against the Wairoa team of S McRoberts (s), P Knight (d), W Bestford (2) and T Thompson (l).

However, Gisborne lost 21-13 in the third game, against Tolaga Bay’s Vern Marshall (s), Mick Maunder (d), Ben Elkington (2) and Murray Duncan (l).

Gisborne beat Kahutia’s Alastair Macpherson (s), R Taylor (d), Ropata Ruwhiu (2) and Alec Brown (l) 21-11 in the fourth game. Then Gisborne won their fifth game 26-7, against Poverty Bay’s Jon Davies (s), Larry Kaloucava (d), John Andrews (2) and Bruce Smart (l).

Tolaga Bay’s Marshall, Maunder, Elkington and Duncan won all their games. They beat Poverty Bay 16-14, Kahutia 23-5, Gisborne 21-13, Te Karaka 15-6 and Wairoa 25-8. With five wins, 10 points and a plus-54 differential, Tolaga Bay won the senior men’s champion of champions fours on their own home green. Gisborne were runners-up with four wins, eight points and a plus-36 differential.

In the senior women’s competition, the Kahutia team of Glenys Whiteman (s), Marie Wright (d), Lucy Shanks (2) and Paige Richter (l) had three wins on the first day to top the ladder.

They beat the Wairoa team of Glenda Kapene (s), Jo Sturmey (d), Penny Mitchell (2) and Hine Whaanga (l) 17-7 in the first game. Then they won 14-11 against Poverty Bay’s Anita Vaotuua (s), Joy Davis (d), Cheryl Jenkins (2) and Diane Christie (l).

Kahutia had a big win, 21-6, against Tolaga Bay’s Jo Atkins (s), Sharon Olsen (d), Delores Woodcock (2) and Holli Elkington (l). However, Kahutia lost 21-12 to Te Karaka combination Mere Nepia (s), Sarah Brown (d), Del Tamanui (2) and Jasmine Merrick (l). Then they lost their fifth game, 21-11, against Gisborne’s Queenie Takurua (s), Dayvinia Mills (d), Adrienne Smiler (2) and Heni Hindmarsh (l).

After five games, the senior women ended up with surprisingly mixed results. Te Karaka, Kahutia and Poverty Bay all had three wins.

With three wins, six points and a plus-17 differential, Te Karaka were declared winners of the senior women’s champion of champions fours. Poverty Bay were runners-up with three wins, six points and a plus-10 differential.