Ella Gibson Memorial Trophy winners from Tolaga Bay Bowling Club are (from left) Krystel Williams, Mary Taingahue, Queenie Takurua (skip) and Clara Taingahue.
Ella Gibson Memorial Trophy winners from Tolaga Bay Bowling Club are (from left) Krystel Williams, Mary Taingahue, Queenie Takurua (skip) and Clara Taingahue.
Te Karaka Bowling Club was like Ūawa Domain for a day as a Tolaga Bay team won the Ella Gibson Memorial Trophy for centre women’s open fours in an atmosphere akin to an East Coast rugby match.
Both teams in the final revelled in their boisterous support in aclash that was not decided until the final end.
Tolaga Bay’s Queenie Takurua (skip), Mary Taingahue, Clara Taingahue and Krystel Williams beat Poverty Bay’s Anita Vaotuua (s), Jessie Davis-Law, Cheryl Jenkins and Debs Hancock 16-14.
But the scoreline gives only a hint of the drama that unfolded.
Also at Te Karaka over the weekend, the centre men’s open fours for the Peace Shield was decided on points differential after six teams contested a round robin.
The Peace Shield winners from Kahutia Bowling Club are (from left) July Hoepo, Liam Pinn, Kyle Pinn and Leighton Shanks (skip).
Kahutia’s Leighton Shanks (s), Kyle Pinn, Liam Pinn and July Hoepo won the shield on points differential from Gisborne’s Malcolm Trowell (s), Warren Gibb, Chris Bunyan and Andrew Ball.
It is the fourth centre title this season for Hoepo.
In the women’s final, Takurua’s four led 12-5 with five ends to play. But over the next four ends, Vaotuua’s Poverty Bay crew clawed back the deficit and led 14-13 going into the final end.
Tolaga Bay rose to the occasion, picking up three shots on the last end to win the trophy.
Third-equal were Gisborne’s Carol Hawes (s), Adrienne Torrie, Kym Brown and Libby Clay, and Kahutia’s Glenys Whiteman (s), Dayvinia Mills, Millie Allen and Karen Pinn.
The Taingahue four beat Hawes 14-5 and Vaotuua defeated Whiteman 16-9 in the semi-finals.
In the first round of post-section play, Hawes’ four beat Gisborne clubmates Dianne Phillips (s), Ginny Sherriff, Marise Raklander and Karen Higgins 10-9; the Taingahue four beat Te Karaka’s Barbara Tui (s), Andrea Tui, Jacqui Broughton and Janie Waititi 13-5; Whiteman’s team beat Te Karaka’s Diane Tamanui-Murray (s), Lyn Hayes, Karen Macpherson and Vicky Smith 16-10; and the Vaotuua unit beat Poverty Bay’s Kathryn Flaugere (s), Anna Colvin, Jenny Amor and Cheryle Tamanui 12-10.
The scene at Te Karaka Bowling Club on the first day of the Ella Gibson Memorial and Peace Shield centre fours competitions.
In the men’s competition, skip Shanks’ Kahutia four finished on eight match points and a differential of +37 to Trowell’s eight points and +34 differential.
Teams earned two points for a win and one for a draw.
The Shanks and Trowell fours both dropped a game.
Trowell beat Shanks 11-6 in the first round on Saturday, then in the third round that day, Geoff Pinn’s Kahutia men did the Shanks team a favour by beating Trowell four 15-14.
In the second round, Shanks had beaten Pinn 13-12.
After losing their first two games, Pinn had a run of three wins to finish third on points differential from Boon McIlroy’s Tolaga Bay four.
After three straight wins, including a first-round 15-9 victory over Pinn, McIlroy’s team lost their last two games – 19-11 to Trowell and 20-4 to Shanks.
