Annual fours tournament attracts 168 teams to city

A sea of men in white will flood Whangarei's bowling greens this weekend as they prepare to do battle in the 38th Annual Chartered Club New Zealand Fours Bowls Competition.
While Kamo Bowling Club are hosts for the event, as well as Friday's final, the Hikurangi, Waipu, One Tree Point along with Kensington, Onerahi, Whangarei and Whangarei RSA Bowling Clubs will provide the 12 greens needed to complete the eight qualifying rounds which start on Monday and continue until Wednesday.
On Wednesday afternoon, the first round of post-section play will be staged at Kamo Bowling Club, while on Thursday, various clubs will host teams who did not qualify for post-section play or the final, in a consolation tournament.
Convenor Allan McNabb said after months of planning the tournament was shaping up to be a good one for the 168 teams attending the event.
"Numbers are down slightly from the last time Whangarei hosted the event in 1999 but it is still a good number of teams - and it has meant a lot of planning. Whangarei also hosted this tournament in 1989 and it has always brought in a lot of revenue to the town," McNabb said.
The convenor added he had told the Whangarei Information Centre this event was scheduled to be held in Whangarei two years ago to prepare them for the influx of bowlers. He also advised bowlers to start booking accommodation in February last year.
"We've taken up a lot of the local motels and rental houses - while some people are staying in private accommodation as well."
Teams, along with partners and children, will start arriving in Whangarei today and tomorrow from as far as Oamaru - seven teams are competing from the South Island township.
Last year's winning team skip Graham Body and his team, who represented Hamilton Workingmans Club, will be back in action over the weekend, but this time the fours will be playing under the Waikato Commerce Club umbrella. Also attending is Danny Delany, who was skip for Onehunga Workingmans Club team that won the 1999 final in Whangarei.
Meanwhile, Northland will be represented by the Bream Bay Club, Kamo Club, Maungaturoto Country Club, Mangawhai Club, Mount Manaia Club, Ngunguru Sports Club, Northland Club, Northern Wairoa RSA, Paihia Ex-Servicemen's Club and the Waipu C and S Club.
Play starts at 8.45am.