Wanganui host to NZ bowls

DISCUSSING OPTIONS: Michael Lawson and Grant Wilson of the Ashburton team deciding where to put their next bowl in their Saturday morning match with Southland at the national mixed fours championships. PHOTO/BEVAN CONLEY

For the first time in around a decade, Wanganui played host to the New Zealand Mixed Fours Indoor Bowls Championship at Jubilee Stadium on Saturday.

It proved a close competition, as after the first rounds of matches in the morning the biggest winning margin was only five points.

In the end of the round robin competition, four of the eight teams finished tied on eight points, with North Taranaki judged the winners on a countback of ends won.

It was still close, with North Taranaki having won 36 ends compared to runner-up Nelson with 33 - as Nelson had beaten North Taranaki in the opening game - while Hutt Valley was third.

North Taranaki was represented by the Club 2000 team of skip Alister Wilson, Clinton Hook, Bronnie Read, and lead Colleen Riddock.

They had won through the Western Zone conference, which includes Wanganui, to make the national final.