Cooper's Beach pair secure junior title

Cooper's Beach bowlers Dave Roughton and Murray Pope are the Far North junior pairs winners for 2012 after a hard-fought victory over Mike Reddy and Zane Beckett on Sunday.

The final was at the Kaitaia Combined Bowling Club with the Cooper's Beach pair the only two-lifers going into the final day's play.

They joined Okaihau pairs David Haynes and Mike Smith and Harold Yukich and Tony Tuoro and Kaitaia Combined's Reddy and Beckett.

In the first round, Roughton beat Haynes while Reddy knocked out Yukich.

The finals featured some great bowling, particularly from Mike and Zane who put up a grand battle to fight back from being 18-4 down on the 10th end to lose by two shots with the final score 19-17.

In the junior women's competition there were only two teams to battle it out for the title on Sunday - Patsy Thornton and Trish McLaren from Coopers Beach and a composite pairing from Kawakawa/Kerikeri, Maudinna Milner and Rebekah Papera.

The possible final saw the Coopers Beach team lead most of the game but an extra end had to be played and Milner won the game by a couple of shots taking a life off Coopers.

The final saw a complete turnaround with Milner and Papera romping away, 19-5, to claim their second successive title.

In the senior women's event only one two-lifer - another composite pair from Kerikeri/Waitangi, Jo Hood and Penny Clementson - survived the opening day.

Lyn McKeating and Judy Boag (Kerikeri), Jill Phillips and Dorothy Hardy (Combined), Jeanette Smith and Erani Coley (Kaikohe), Viv Kahi and Tania Tana (Hokianga), Ngaire Watts and Margaret Wildbore (Coopers Beach) remained in contention as one-lifers.

Hood and Clementson led up to the ninth end but slowly and surely the game turned with McKeating and Boag showing some form to claim the title 17-11 over their clubmates.

Okaihau's Shaun Haynes and Dan Dickison were the only two lifers on Sunday morning. Paul Vegar and Trevor Dyer (Kerikeri), Ron Clark and Kevin Williams (Kerikeri), Gerry Morunga and Henare Wikaira (Kaikohe), Monte Pawa and Alan Thom (Combined) were the one lifers.

Okaihau had the first round bye, while Vegar and Dyer knocked out clubmates Clarke and Williams, while the Combined pair eliminated the Kaikohe team.

Kerikeri drew the bye next round while Okaihau eliminated Combined which left a showdown between Haynes and Vegar. Both Okaihau players were all class in the final, with Dickson in particular playing well as they won 29-12.