The turnout for the Peter Belliss Triples Tribute Tournament was a measure of the man

NZ Development player Natasha Russell in action as part of the Peter Belliss Triples Tribute Tourament over Easter Weekend. Photo / Lewis Gardner

The Easter Weekend turnout of 42 teams to pay tribute to Whanganui bowler Peter Belliss was a measure of his legendary status.

The crème de la crème of New Zealand's lawn bowlers joined Whanganui exponents to compete at the Ryman Healthcare Peter Belliss tribute triples tournament at Aramoho, Gonville and Laird Park club greens.

After two games on Friday and a further four on Saturday the top 14 teams qualified to play in the post section A division. At Aramoho during qualifying play Belliss's team defeated Gary Lawson's team to qualify, but despite this defeat Lawson's team also made it through to the A section. Other teams to qualify for the A section from Aramoho were former NZ representative Sean Johnson, current NZ Development team skipped by Sheldon Bagrie-Howley and Brian Whale from Naenae.

A section qualifiers from Gonville featured former NZ representative Keith Slight's team qualify along with current Wellington representative Ray Martin and local team Phil Corney and also a Terrace End trio from Manawatu skipped by Erryl Bocock.

Laird Park produced qualifiers of the other NZ Development team skipped by Taylor Horn, locals Wanganui teams skipped by Ray Park and Tony Waikato, Paritutu team from Taranaki skipped by Taranaki representative Darren Goodin and a team from Central Levin skipped by Ian Mahoney.

Amazingly a full schedule of post section matches were able to be played on a rain affected Sunday leaving one final post section match to be played on Monday morning.
Overnight rain had the greens under water at 6am so with play able to start on time at 9am was a credit to the green keeping staff at all three venues.

NZ Development player Finbar McGuigan rolls up as part of the winning trio of the Peter Belliss Triples Tribute Tournament over Easter Weekend. Photo / Lewis Gardner

Section A had Belliss' team in 4th place with three wins and a draw, the same result as Darren Goodin's team who ended up in third place. The A division final was played between the Wanganui team of Ray Park, Ray Savage and Alan Dickson and the NZ Development team of Taylor Horn, Finbar McGuigan and Natasha Russell. In the end the NZ Development team proved too strong for the locals winning 15 to 5.

Wanganuui bowler Ray Savage in action as part of the runners-up trio in the Peter Belliss Triples Tribute Tourament over Easter Weekend. Photo / Lewis Gardner

In the B section Neil Candy's West End team from Taranaki finished 4th with Kristen Stampa's Tower team, also from Taranaki, finishing third.

The B division final featured the Paritutu team of Ian Andrews, Cathy Andrews and local player Laurie Hocquard play the team from Takaro, Manawatu of Doug Winter, Steve Toms and Sharon Sims. Andrews' team was in front for most of the match but with three ends to go they dropped a three which ultimately proved to be decisive with the Takaro team running out the winners by three shots at the end of 16 ends.

C section had Baz Fairweather's Naenae team place 4th with Kevin Hills' Tower, Taranaki team place third. The C section final had Russell Hardy, Wally Hurley and John Roberts, also from Tower in Taranaki, play George Lyddiard, Clyde Edmiston and Mark Colls from the Kensington club in Whangarei. In another close contest the Taranaki team ran out the winners.

Sunday night included a gala dinner at the Aramoho Bowling Club. The evening was compered by Aramoho Bowling Club Life Member Royce Tunbridge who spoke on Belliss's achievements.

Other speakers on the night included people who had played with Belliss at the highest level — Keith Slight, Lance Tasker, Sean Johnson, Sharon Sims and Gary Lawson.

Among the stories told that spanned Belliss's 50 years in bowls was a plea from Sean Johnson to Peter as current NZ selector to pick him for one more NZ fixture as he current sits on 99 caps and one more fixture would see him reach 100. To give you an idea of the scale of Belliss's achievements he represented NZ in more than 350 fixtures.

So what started out as a one off tournament to honour Peter Belliss may now be held annually with learnings from the inaugural tournament incorporated in to any future events.

That there were players from Gore, Ashburton, Methven, Nelson, Wellington, Manawatu, Whanganui, Taranaki, Bay of Plenty, Auckland and Whangarei shows how well the tournament was supported. It was where club bowlers were looking forward to the chance to be drawn to play against players such as Belliss, Lawson or current NZ development players.

Finally, the Aramoho Bowling Club would like to thank again the naming sponsor of the tournament, Jane Winstone Ryman Healthcare Village along with other sponsors St Johns Club and Wanganui Partners.