East almost nail triples

Wanganui East came with a late rush to finish runners-up in the women's triples at the national club championships in Invercargill.

Claire Ellen (skip), Marie Klitcher and Sadie Head (lead) headed south with butterflies, but will return as proud as peacocks after finishing second to Auckland's Carlton Cornwall team, Reen Stratford, Karen De Jongh and Bev Crowe, yesterday.

Head said it was an extremely tight finish to the national triples with all of the final six teams posting two wins apiece, forcing the title to be decided on game differentials.

The Carlton Cornwall crew finished with four points and +15, while the team from the Wanganui East Bowling Club finished with four points +5, slightly ahead of those from Southland and Canterbury who tied for third place with four points -3. The Manurewa Cosmo Club, from Counties Manukau, finished in fifth with four points -15.

"It was very tight, with all teams winning two. It came back to differentials and we were lucky enough to come out in second place - a huge honour at this level," Head said yesterday.

The Wanganui women had early losses, going down by seven to Carlton Cornwall and then by 15 to the Waikiwi side from Southland. However, they bounced back with a win by 12 over the Beckenham club from Canterbury and Manurewa by eight.

The atrocious weather over the weekend which denied Wanganui's Ray Park a chance to compete in the national men's singles, had no effect on the women from the east.

"We had a beautiful flight down and brilliant weather throughout the tournament - it didn't affect us at all," Head said.

"We are extremely pleased with ourselves and we're already celebrating," she said immediately after their final match yesterday.

The trio return home triumphant today with the runners-up prize, almost as good as victory at that level.