A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.
GISBORNE Bowling Club teams won both the men's and women's centre open pairs titles at the weekend.
Lyn Trueman and Dianne Phillips won the women's competition, and Bob McIlroy and Charlie Ure won the men's.
Fourteen teams started in the women's pairs on Saturday, the top eight qualifying for knockout play on Sunday.
In the first round of post-section play, the Kahutia club's Lucy Shanks and Diane Murray were too strong for Poverty Bay's Joy Davis and Marilyn Knowles, and beat them 22-9.
Gisborne's Trueman and Phillips had a battle with Glenys Whiteman and Marie Wright before squeezing home 19-17.
Gisborne's Bobbie Beattie and Tanya Harrison edged home 15-11 against Poverty Bay's Anita Vaotuua and Cheryl Jenkins, and Val McGreevy and Lesley Seymour dispatched the pairing of Del Tamanui (Te Karaka) and Joanne Atkins (Tolaga Bay).
The semifinal between Shanks and Trueman went to the wire. The only break came on the third end when Shanks pocketed five shots to lead 7-2 before the Trueman pair rallied to get those shots back over the next few ends. From then on nobody could jump ahead.
They were tied at 16-all when the bell went but Trueman managed to snatch a two to dash Shanks's chances and head to the final.
The other semifinal was a different story. After the sixth end, the McGreevy duo were never going to lose, let alone let Beattie in the game.
Winning 11 of the 16 ends they got in, the McGreevy pair comfortably booked their place in the final with a 17-11 win.
The final was a ding-dong battle till the 10th end. They were all tied up at 9-9 after nine ends, then Trueman and Phillips went into another gear and stormed to an 18-10 lead after 17 ends, at which point McGreevy conceded defeat.
It was unusual to see last year's winners miss out on making the second day, but that's bowls — some days go well and some, not so well.
In the men's competition, 16 teams went into post-section play on Sunday.
Top qualifiers and favourites, Gisborne's Jamey Ferris and Robin Jefferson, had an easy first round as their opponents failed to show.
In the games that did go ahead, Poverty Bay's Steve Berezowski and Bruce Ball got over Gisborne's Hone Huruwai and Geoff Pinn, the Kahutia club pair skipped by Alastair Macpherson was too strong for Tolaga Bay's Murray Duncan and Ben Elkington, Gisborne's Arthur Hawes and Dave Beattie just edged out Kahutia pair Joe Wimutu and Marty Ryan, Gisborne's Ricky Miller and Mark Walker had no problems with Oamaranui pair Ray Scott and Alan Heath, and Tolaga Bay's Vern Marshall and Don Williams were too strong for Murray Murton (Kahutia) and Rex Jones (Taradale). Kahutia pair George Vaotuua and Leighton Shanks took care of the other Oamaranui pair, Jim Cornish and Campbell Cochrane, and Gisborne's McIlroy and Ure destroyed Poverty Bay's Lex Kennedy and Jeff Davis.
In the quarterfinals, Ferris beat Berezowski, Hawes beat Macpherson, Marshall beat Miller and McIlroy beat Vaotuua.
Both semifinals were evenly matched. Ferris and Hawes matched each other up till the 15th end, when Ferris managed to get a jump on Hawes and didn't relinquish his lead.
McIlroy got off to a flyer against Marshall, and led 13-5 after 10 ends.
Marshall made a surge to trail by one at 13-12 on the 16th end, when the bell went.
The final was a spectacle for the spectators. Ferris would get a few ahead before McIlroy would pull them back.
One player stood out in the final. Drawing, resting, running, driving . . . all the elements were there. No matter what McIlroy did, he connected, and time and time again he changed deficits into positives.
It was the best I have seen McIlroy play in a long time. He and Ure deserved the win.
Ferris, himself, was out of sorts with his aggressive shots but his drawing, along with that of Jefferson, was up to task. In the end, though, they had to bow to the victors.