Northland winter bowls in full swing

Winter bowls is starting to warm up in Northland.

Last weekend saw the final Regional event of the season played at Hikurangi greens when the 1-5 Interclub representative teams from Counties-Manukau, Auckland, North Harbour, Northland and Far North competed for the honour and glory of winning the Mercedes Cup.

The winners were Birkenhead (North Harbour) with 22 win points, 2nd place went to Arapohue (Northland) with 19pts, on a countback of shots from Pukekohe (Counties-Manukau), in 4th place was Opononi (Far North) on 16 pts.

Five rounds of play in singles, pairs and triples were completed and outstanding play was seen from these junior bowlers.

The matches were close and it took the results from the last round of play to find the eventual winners. This competition is an annual event held in Northland.

The Coaching Association held their annual fundraising tournament at the Kamo greens and had a great turnout of 30 teams of fours.

The last round of the day saw the junior (1-8 year) bowler in each team becoming the skip.

Once again there was great bowls played and at the end of the day two teams were equal on wins, ends and points.

Both teams share the trophy and whether they were presented with first or second prizes was decided on the toss of a coin.

Generous sponsorship allowed the association to present three prizes on each green. Prizewinners were:

Green B; 1st C Jellick, L Reader, R Sowerby, L Wyatt, (Composite) 3 wins, 31 ends, 53 pts. 2nd D Henwood, J Geldenhuys, D Adamson, G Walker (Mangawhai) 3 wins, 22 ends, 50 pts; 3rd G Brockelsby, C Harrison, K McLeod, D McDowell; 3 wins, 21 ends, 39 pts.
Green C: 1st= G Neeley, D Kerr, M Yovich, D Mora (Kamo), 4 wins, 26 ends, 59 pts; 1st= M Bradley, D Lawrence, L Vallance, E Chrol (Composite) 4 wins, 26 ends, 59 pts. 3rd: A Tan, M Methley, J Manley, K Cooper (Kamo) 4 wins, 23 ends, 57 pts.

This weekend sees the final tournaments of the season for the Centre with the Champion of Champion Pairs being played on Saturday and Champion of Champion Fours on Sunday at the Mangawhai greens.

Clubs entered are listed on the Northland Centre website. Please check that your club is registered.

Reporting time is 8am when the draw for each event (men and women) will be completed each day.

The Umpires Association are holding their annual fundraising triples event at the Onerahi greens on May 16.

They have a few vacancies so please contact Bruce Scott on 435 2512 for an entry. The tournament is Any Combination triples.

Clubs wishing to change dates for fixtures for next season should contact the events manager as soon as possible.

Please email gwen.northbowls@slingshot.co.nz and not the events manager email address because we are having problems with this address at the moment.

The Centre advises that the Centre Awards night and prizegiving dinner will be at the Kamo Club on June 10.

Tickets will be available from the Centre office, please contact the centre manager to order.

Summer events at clubs are coming to a close and the winter programmes at clubs where they have an artificial green will be in full swing.

Summer tournaments yet to be completed are at Maungaturoto, May 17, and Hikurangi on May 21. Hikurangi has an any combination triples and all teams will receive a prize. Contact either club for an entry.

Reminder: Nominations for the Centre Awards close next Monday, May 15 with the centre manager.

Criteria and nominations forms have been sent to all clubs and players may be nominated by clubs or individual bowlers. Maungaturoto tournament is part of their winter programme.