The summer season of bowls has now been completed with the final two open tournaments and all club championships and Twilight bowls having all been contested and winners crowned.
Twilight Bowls finished with a flourish on March 11 with up to 90 people enjoying the friendliness of this fun event. Winners for a record fourth time were Pirates comprising three wily Te Mata lads Phil Shea, Terry Wright and Dave Robertson. The event is generously sponsored by Top Cut Butchery.
The Club’s signature open tournament, the Western 1000 Opt 4’s, was contested by 28 teams representing twelve clubs from throughout the Waikato on Thursday March 28th. This year’s winners were the Kevin Quinton skipped Claudelands team of Bill Barwood, Dave Campbell and lead George Davidson. The event first contested in 2005 is renowned for having the best prize money in the Waikato thanks to the long term support of Fresh Choice Raglan, Seddon Park Funeral Home, and Chris Leuthart – PGG Wrightson Livestock.
The club’s last open tournament for the summer season was the Ladies Theme Day held on Monday April 7th. This year the theme was the letter Q with most players in fancy dress with lots of Queen Bees buzzing around the green, a Mrs Quirky looking bemused, but the winning entry was Kath Gray from Beerescourt bowling club who was dressed in full Qantas pilot’s uniform. The event sponsored by Hilda Ross Retirement Village was played as drawn pairs with the winning combination being our own Suzanne McGarvey who teamed up with Raewyn Booking from Frankton Junction Bowling Club.
On the club scene, it has been back to back championship events with healthy numbers vying to get their names engraved on the many prestigious trophies.
The under 5 singles was played on February 22. The men’s section was won by Mike Kiely who only just squeaked past Ian Latham in the first round 20 to 18; he was then very dominant finally beating Malcom Hunia 21 to 9 in the final. Hunia in his first year had accounted for more fancied opponents John Robertson, Stephen Hand and Colin Hawkins on his way to the final. Bev McDavitt Whyte showed her class to take out the women’s section.
A new championship event, the mixed 2 x 4 x 2, was held on March 15 and was convincingly won by Bill King and Pim Blair.
The following week on March 22 saw the men’s and women’s pairs played; there were upsets galore in the men’s event with defending champions Colin Bouzaid and Peter Puschmann eliminated after being beaten by both Stephen Hand and Colin Hawkins and then by Bill King and Norm Burnand. This allowed wily veterans Ross Turner and Les Schlager to wind back the clock to win for the first time since triumphing in 2013 and 2014. Turner actually won his first pairs title back in 1982 and is arguably still the best player in the club.
The ladies section was taken out by Sue Kingi and Kathryn Fitzgibbon who were in hot form and edged out the more fancied Wahanga / McDavitt Whyte combination.
March 29 and it was the under 5 pairs turn to shine. There were some amazingly close contests before newbies Norm Burnand and Bill King were crowned men’s champions and Genny McLeod and another first year player Anne Burnand joined her husband Norm on the honours board in the ladies section. Both Norm and Anne Burnand only started playing bowls at our club’s funday last November and have made huge strides ability wise and as valued club members.
The final championship event for the season was the triples on April 12; the experienced and talented combination of Colin Burnand, Peter Puschmann and Ross Turner were simply too good in winning the men’s section. The win gave Turner, in his 47th year of bowls, three championships for the season following earlier wins in the pairs and fours. The ladies section went to the Bev McDavitt Whyte skipped team of Genny McLeod and Maws Wahanga.
Another popular event on the club’s calendar is the Rangitahi closed tournament for club members only. This is a free day including sumptuous lunch, with every player receiving a prize. It is made possible by the ongoing support from the Peacocke family. The day commenced with a $50 spider where players surround the green and have to get their bowl closest to a $50 note pinned to the centre of the green. Barry Dalbeth showed his accuracy to grab the money. The actual tournament consists of three games of 10 ends with the Colin Bouzaid, Barry Dalbeth and Ian Latham combination being the only three winners to win the coveted Rangitahi trophy. The day concluded with a fun quiz.
The final summer event was the vet singles on April 26; this is played in two sets of seven ends with a tie break if sets are split and so it proved in the final. John Vati had been in imperious form and met Gavin Crowley in the final. Vati took the first set and was leading the second set when the rain came and changed the pace of the green. Crowley adapted better taking the second set and dominated the tie break to take the title.
The club now looks forward to their four winter open tournaments but of course still has rollups every Wednesday and Saturday to which anyone is welcome to come and join in.
For more information about becoming a bowler and enjoying the friendliness of our club call Alan Price on 021 456751.
