Strong performances from Ruatangata and the Northland Club teams saw them both win all their games in the third round of the Discovery Settlers Interclub series.
A count back of ends was required to separate the two with Ruatangata, led by the Agnew brothers Alan and Charlie with Ben Foster and Arthur Brown completing the team, winning over the Northland Club team of Eilean Rawson, John Rawson, Allyson Hayward and Tui Slade.
The A division was won with another top performance by the Marist/Hora Hora team of husband and wife Kia and Graeme Ward, Connon Walker and John Colman.
With two further rounds to be played, the leading clubs overall are Marist/Hora Hora and Ruatangata.
The Centre New Zealand Mixed Fours is a competition for teams of two men and two women played over four qualifying rounds of ten ends, followed by semifinals and finals making for a very full day, especially for those players travelling from out of town.
This year's competition held at Badminton Hall, Whangarei, and was won by Ruawai's Don Simpson skipping for Kia Ward, Marcel Ruedi and Lyn Nisbet over Whangarei's Ton Kaan, Inez Bunting, Betty Pattinson and John Colman in a closely fought final.
Third place went to the Bay of Islands/ Kaitaia team of Chris Watson, Judy Bethel, Eddie McCarthey and Marion Banks.
The Ruawai team will contest the regional final in Auckland in July.
The National Umpires exam was held at the Kauri Hall, with four nervous candidates completing the three-part exams.
The completed papers have gone to NZ Indoor Bowls in Wellington for marking.
With the National Championships being held in Whangarei in two years time, there will be plenty of work for the new umpires to look forward to.