Hawke's Bay 'Pink Ladies' do the impossible

They had never played bowls in the annual Taranaki Open before so skip Mere Nepia and her composite fours did what most astute people do.
The women bought garish pink shirts for $10 from a Hastings outlet, piled into a compact Nissan Pulsar sedan and headed off to the Paritutu Bowling Club in New Plymouth on January 24.
While lead Peg O' Dowd (Omarunui Bowling Club), No 2 Dot Palmer (Omarunui) and No 3 Susan Belcher (Havelock North) had no lofty expectations, Nepia (Bay View) had told her partner, Wayne Parker, they would return home with the silverware a week later.
"He was pretty nervous. He couldn't believe we were still there because he was holding the fort for me at the TAB [in Maraenui], which I own," she said after the combo won the title, becoming the first Bay women's team to ever etch their name on the trophy since the women's competition began in 1950.
When Nepia didn't return that Friday, Parker figured the team must have qualified but when their stay stretched to Saturday he became nervous and excited.
Little did Parker know the Bay players, on making the last eight, had other pressing issues to resolve.
With Joe Cocker and a major bike rally in town, the Bay four had nowhere to stay, considering they had only booked for three days to cover section play.
"We had a bye to get into the top eight so we thought we'd wait to see what happens. If we had lost we would have driven home."
When their fortunes changed, a Poritutu club member phoned five motels but she couldn't find them beds.
"Two people offered us beds," she said, adding host club member Rae Walsh came to their rescue.
"She fed us and said don't bother packing your bags because you have two more games and you'll be back tonight."
Did they consider sleeping in their car?
"We had no room in there. We just had enough room for our bags," she said of O'Dowd's vehicle.
"But we were prepared to sleep anywhere, even on the floor of the club rooms."
In fact, even bringing home the trophy was an issue but eventually it sat on top of two bags between Belcher and Palmer in the back seat.
However, this week the nervous players were contemplating sending the silverware back to the Naki club because they didn't want it damaged or stolen amid the complexity of which of their three clubs was game enough to house it.
Belcher said the Walshes refused to accept any money from them so the four took them out for dinner twice and gave them petrol vouchers.
"The hospitality was just amazing. Mere had cooked breakfast and she could have snapper or gurnard so that's how kind they were."
They hadn't had any celebrations because on returning home club and centre competitions beckoned.
"We just put the trophy in, jumped in the car and came home," O'Dowd said.
Belcher said the team intended to celebrate with a champagne dinner soon.
A John Granger-skipped Havelock North team, including lead Dave Palmer, No 2 Graham Fulford and No 3 Bruce Stewart had won the men's title in the Taranaki fours in 2002.
"So we're in quite good company," Belcher said.
The women's 26-22 victory over Gayle Melrose's Birkenhead fours in the women's final was sweeter. Late last year the Nepia fours had lost to Melrose's team in the Tauranga Open fours final.
Explained Nepia: "It was payback time for me because they had three players from the Auckland reps team and one was a selector.
"I thought we played very consistently and we had a good team," she said, claiming nerves weren't an issue.
Fast, beautiful, perfect was Nepia's assessment of the club greens as they beat Fitzroy's Miriam Koot's fours 33-20 to make the quarterfinals.
They crushed Frances Parkes' fours (Hawera) 32-7 next before brushing aside Paritutu's Cathy Andrews outfit 25-11 in the seimfinals.
"We have not got any nice greens [in the Bay] so that's why we travel away," Nepia said, adding they had asked Bay women's selector, O' Dowd, to look at improving conditions here.
In the qualifying rounds, the Andrews fours had outplayed Nepia's team but the Bay outfit avenged their defeat in the reverse match.
Said Belcher: "They didn't handle the fastness of the greens and the wind but we are used to the Hawke's Bay wind so we adapted to it quickly."
Palmer said the superb greens were running at 19 or 20 revolutions, based on the time the bowl left the hand on the mat to the time it reached the kitty.
That Nepia, Belcher and Palmer are Bay representatives meant the team had a degree of cohesiveness.
Palmer revealed she didn't play too well on day two and welcomed the reshuffle in the playing order.
"If someone wasn't there someone else came along to do the job so it was a great team effort."
O'Dowd is optimistic about defending the title next year.
"I'd like to take these girls with me but I might be too old by then. They might have to carry me over there," said a grinning O'Dowd who will be 80 years old.
"Maree is only a six-year bowler so I thought it was a good idea to have her skip and have Susan, who is so experienced [23 years], to play on the top and that worked very well," said O'Dowd who has 21 years up her sleeve.
Palmer didn't expect their rivals to forget them in a hurry in their pink.
Wearing whites with their respective clubs' motifs wasn't an option.
"We should have called ourselves the Pink Ladies," she said, not ruling out the possibility of using the name next year.