First . . . and last bowls champions to be crowned this season

Arriving a little late but better than never was this photo of the winning junior women's team, from the Poverty Bay Bowling club. They are pictured at the side of the road at the top of the hill overlooking Wairoa and are (from left) Kim Walters (skip), Ngawai Turipa (director) and Trish Leach (lead). Picture supplied

The first of the Gisborne-East Coast bowls champions to be crowned this season turned out to be the last . . . for some considerable time anyway.

Held in Wairoa on Saturday, March 14, the centre champion of champions triples drew entries for senior and junior men's and women's competitions.

Gisborne Herald bowls correspondent Starweed reported in the following Wednesday's paper that four women's teams — representing Gisborne, Poverty Bay, Wairoa and Te Karaka — competed in the junior ranks and played a round-robin format. Players with less than eight years of bowls experience were eligible for the junior competition.

Gisborne's Kym Brown, Jenny Evans and Karen Pinn had two wins with a plus-five differential.

However, Poverty Bay's skip Kim Walters, director Ngawai Turipa and lead Trish Leach also had two wins but with a plus-20 differential.

The Poverty Bay team's second-round game was a key factor in their eventual success. Playing Te Karaka, they were fast off the mark and never looked back, getting home 23-5.

Starweed reported that Leach was steady up front, Turipa was as consistent as ever and Walters covered her team when required.

Other champions found that day were the senior women's unbeaten Wairoa team of Glenda Kapene, Donna Smith and Jo Sturmey, and the senior men's Gisborne team of Malcolm Trowell,

Arthur Hawes and Dave Beattie, who pipped the Tolaga Bay team by three in the total number of ends won on the day (29-26) after they had finished equal on games won and points differential.