Tenpin bowling: Grandmother Marie Whitaker overall champ at nationals

Marie Whitaker with the spoils after earning the stripes as the overall female champion at the 55-plus national championship at the Super Strike Centre in Hastings. Photo / Warren Buckland

You could say it's not how Marie Whitaker bowls but how she rolls that matters most.

Whitaker stole the thunder at the New Zealand 55+ Tenpin Bowling Tournament in Hastings when she was crowned the overall women's champion on Sunday.

So how did the grandmother celebrate after the clatter had subsided at the Super Strike Tenpin Bowling Centre?

"I just came home and went to sleep on the couch," says the 71-year-old with a laugh.

"I was just catching up on some sleep."

It was "pretty full on" for Whitaker who had claimed the women's A grade singles crown as well as the women's all-events scratch title.

She was runner-up in the women's all-events handicap section and finished third in the mystery women's doubles grade.

However, that was enough to be declared the overall women's champion.

With the Tenpin Bowling Hawke's Bay Foundation hosting the tourney, Whitaker had had to assume the mantle of Hastings delegate.

"I had a 7am check-in at the centre," she explains.

"I had to sell raffle tickets, be a lane marshal and help organise dinner for 134 people at Club Hastings although most of that work was done."

It was so hectic Whitaker didn't even have the time to ascertain where her mystery doubles partner, Yvette Lees, hails from. She is from Waitakere, Auckland, by the way.

She baby-sits a five-year-old grandson because his parents work fulltime although his mother had made alternative arrangements for him during the tourney.

Whitaker feels the league is almost like a reunion every three months where she builds a rapport with new people and reacquaints herself with current members.

The four-day tourney had enticed a record 137 bowlers from as far north as Whangaparaoa and as far south as Invercargill.

Whitaker had a nail-biting match against Margaret Hansen, of Whangaparoa, in the women's singles final. Only one pin separated the pair going into the 10th and final frame.

She had "spared the frame" but Hansen had missed from her spare to miss out on the overall female champion honours as well.

Peter Jones, of Rotorua, was the overall men's champion after eclipsing Michael Hepburn, of Porirua, in another close battle in the final.

Whitaker is a retired motor vehicle entrepreneur in Hastings but that doesn't mean he has oodles of time to practise because of her other commitments.

"I try to go up on a Friday morning but that is becoming increasingly harder and harder," she says, revealing she competes in up to three leagues — one every week, one every fortnight and the 55+ one.

She struggles to recall how many nationals she has competed in but can confirm she has missed out on some because of various reasons.

"Sometimes we all cram into a van but we have to fly somewhere else because I had to fly from Auckland to do some babysitting in Whangarei."

Whitaker says her success here probably had a lot to do with home-centre advantages.

The Hastings venue had undergone a $500,000 refurbishment in June 2017, prompting Preston Epplett, the chairman of Tenpin Bowling Hawke's Bay Foundation and the president of 55+ tourney, to declare it among the best in the Southern Hemisphere.

Marie Whitaker, 71, isn't about to give up tenpin bowls any time soon because it keeps her moving and helps her build a rapport with other players around the country. Photo / Warren Buckland

She has no intentions of easing up on rocking down to the centre to knock down those pins "because it keeps you moving".

The previous weekend a Bay contingent had returned with 15 medals from the Wellington open event.

Kerry Stephenson was runner-up in the graded singles event.

Rebekah Baxter, of Hastings, and Memphis Strachan, of Wellington, won the graded doubles section with mother-and-son Kerry and Corbyn Stephenson finishing runners-up. Kerry only started last year because of her son's involvement.

Christian Karatau, with Clare Sahayam (Wellington) and Julian Ryan (Waitakere), won the youth trios section while the Stephensons and fellow Hastings bowler Steve McKay emulated his feat in the graded trios.

First-year exponent Courtney Walker was runner-up in the graded trio with the Wellington pair of Anthony Tamatea and Lance Teamarama.

Christian Karatau was runner-up in the all-events men's open grade, standing his ground against some of the elite bowlers in the country.

Kerry Stephenson clinched the graded all events where McKay was runner-up.

Hastings Boys' High School pupil Karatau finished third in the men's masters which comprised 12 games at an average of 205.8, which Epplett reckons is "pretty good" for a 16-year-old. Only four players had registered above the 200 average mark in that grade.

Baxter, 21, of Hastings, was second in the women's masters while Kerry Stephenson won the graded masters event with Corbyn Stephenson second and Walker third to claim a Hastings trifecta.

Epplett said it was fifth time the age-group nationals had been hosted here.

"The general comment is Super Strike Centre here is the best in the country and a lot of them will return here for the Hawke's Bay Open in November," he says.

The Bay open had record entries last year and Epplett suspects that is likely to be broken again this year.

Hastings Boys' High School student Christian Karatau played well in the open men's grade in Wellington a fortnight ago. Photo / File

HB MEDALLISTS

• Marie Whitaker: Overall women's champion; women's A grade singles champion; women's all-events scratch champion; women's all events handicap runner-up; mystery women's doubles 3rd.

• Raewyn Baxter: 1st= women's B grade singles.
Rob Hill: 2nd men's B grade singles.

• Kevin Clark: 3rd men's C grade singles.

• Ian Baldwin: 2nd men's doubles.