Gwen Lawson on Northland Bowls: Winter bowling to start

Whangārei bowler David Hood, along with Daniel Hood and Laurel Jones won four out of seven matches at the New Zealand final of the Bowls3Five competition.

Last weekend saw the regional final of the Mercedes Cup for Inter Club competition 1-5 year bowlers played at Hikurangi greens. This was the 22nd year that this event has been played.

Homai (Counties-Manukau); Howick (Auckland); Manly (North Harbour); Kensington (Northland), and Far North RSA (Far North) took part and the results came down to the final round of the competition.

The winners on the day were the Howick Club from Auckland, probably the largest club in Auckland, with more than 150 members.

Second were the Manly club from North Harbour followed by Kensington, Homai and Far North. There were outstanding bowls played by every club and the competition augers well for the future.

While they were playing the 1-5 tournament in Whangārei, further south in Wellington they were playing the New Zealand final of the Bowls3Five competition. Northland were represented by the Whangārei Club which won the Northland event.

Well done to Daniel Hood, David Hood and Laurel Jones who played in section four and won four out of seven matches in section play. They lost in section play to the eventual runners up in the event, but on the way beat the strong Canterbury 2017 combination 2 matches to love.

The eventual winners were Elmwood Park Saints (Canterbury) - a strong combination of representative players who defeated Takaro Tuis (Manawatu) in the final.

There are two events to go in the 2021-22 season. They were both postponed earlier in the season because of Covid and have now been rescheduled for June 11 and 18 (Open Singles) and June 25 and July 2 (Open Pairs).

You are required to re-enter these events please by the centre website or by email to gwen.northbowls@slingshot.co.nz. Please include contact phone number and email address. If you are entering the singles, please supply the name of your marker.

Kensington Club advise that they are holding a Any Combination Fours tournament on Saturday, May 28. You must have a 1-8 year bowler in each team. This tournament is not listed in the tournament calendar but is on the Kensington Club page. Please give them your support.

Tournaments listed for next week:

Hikurangi Men's fours Saturday and Sunday, May 14 to 15.

Dargaville Classic ZFours (2M2W) Sunday, May 15.

Clubs are also starting their winter programmes, so check out the home pages for your favourite tournaments.