Gwen Lawson Northland bowls column: Whangārei and Kensington come out as champions

Bowlers from Whangārei and Kensington were present in the three major finals of last weekend. Photo / File

The third of the delayed Champion of Champions events was played last weekend along with the final of centre open mixed pairs held over from earlier in the season.

Results:

Men:

Round 1:
Mamaranui beat Ngunguru 20-6
Kensington beat Mangawhai 15-8
Whangārei beat Maungatapere 19-8
Maungaturoto beat Onerahi 11-5
Hikurangi beat Leigh 15-8
One Tree Pt beat Waipū 13-11
Arapohue beat Kamo 15-10

Round 2:
Dargaville beat Mamaranui 17-5
Whangārei beat Kensington 13-10
Maungaturoto beat Hikurangi 14-7
Arapohue beat One Tree Pt 14-11

Semifinals:
Whangārei beat Dargaville 16-7
Arapohue beat Maungaturoto 17-15

Final:
Whangārei (Trevor Reader, Paul Price, Paul Shotter, Steve Smith) defeated Arapohue (Carlson Barnett, Marty Webb, Peter Cullen, Gerald Barnett) 13-1

The fight appeared to have gone out of the Arapohue team when they had an extra end win over the experienced Maungaturoto combination in the semifinal.

Whangārei, with their strong combination, had a comfortable win over the Dargaville combination by 16-7. This was a third title for Shotter and Price, 11th for Smith and 16th for Reader.

Women:

Round 1:
Kamo beat Onerahi 11-4
Kensington beat One Tree Pt 11-10

Round 2:
Mangawhai beat Waipū 20-9
Kensington beat Kamo 16-11

Final:
Kensington (Ann Muir, Jude Ganley, Chris Budge, Pam Brewster) defeated Mangawhai (Carol Stebben, Carol Henwood, Jan Hollingsworth, Raewyn Darroch) 18-9.

Kensington had a hard-fought win over One Tree Point by 11-10 in the quarter final and then defeated Kamo 16-11 in the semifinal. Mangawhai had a comfortable win over Waipū before facing Kensington in the final.

The final was a close thing until the 10th end when Kensington scored five shots which gave them a great advantage.

With Mangawhai then dropping five shots on the next two ends, the match was over and another success for the Kensington Club. This event was a sixth title for Ganley and Brewster, eighth title for Budge and a 33rd title for Muir.

In the centre mixed pairs final, Hikurangi (Manu Timoti, Steve Mitchell) defeated Whangarei/Kensington: (Dennis Brewster, Diane Strawbridge).

In this match, Hikurangi got off to a great start, but dropped a five on the 12th end to allow Brewster and Strawbridge to get back into the match.

With the score 13-all on the last end, it was a matter of who could get closest to the jack and this was done by the Timoti/Mitchell combination.

The shots could not be dislodged and the win went to Hikurangi 15-13. This was a 21st title for Timoti and fourth for Mitchell.

• The next and final event of the season will be the Champion of Champions singles which will be played at Kensington greens on Saturday, July 18.