Gwen Lawson bowls column: Champion of Champions events roll on

Northland bowling success is in the air. Photo / File

Last weekend saw the Northland Centre play the first two events in the Champion of Champions, namely, the Centre fours and singles.

The winners of both these events can represent the Northland Centre in the NZ Champion of Champion events to be played in July at various centres around the country.

Saturday saw the men and women playing in the Champion of Champion fours and the winner of the men's division were Whangārei club represented by Trevor Reader, Paul Price, Steve Smith and Paul Shotter.

In the final they played the Kensington combination of Joe Thorburn, Graham Gallant, Ian McMurchy and Clyde Edmiston and won the match 16-9. After seven ends, the match was tied at 7-7, but six shots scored in the next three ends saw the Kensington combination concede the match on the thirteenth of 15 ends.

This win gave Reader his fifteenth Centre title and Smith his tenth title and so both won a further gold bar to their gold star.

In the women's final played at the Kamo greens, victory went to the local Kamo combination of Gwen Lawson, Dorothy Hardy, Heather Smeath and Karina Cooper who defeated the Waipū team of Sharon Rudman, Jill Stewart, Jo Walker and Dawn Owens,18-15.

This match was a game of two halves with Waipū leading 12-4 after eight ends. Kamo then scored 14 shots on the next seven ends to get themselves in front and win the match. This was a fifteenth title for Lawson, third for Cooper and first for Hardy and Smeath.

Sunday saw the events change to singles and at the Dargaville greens, Wayne Wrack (Maungaturoto) played Frank Arnerich (Hikurangi) in the final. This was a great spectator match with bowl for bowl and in the race to 21 shots, the score was 20-20 and the result hinged on the first player to reach 21.

Wrack killed the end twice before he finally prevailed winning the match, 21-20. The semifinal was also a close affair for Wrack when he defeated Paul Wightman of Mangawhai by the score of 19-18 when they ran out of time on the clock. This result gave Wrack his twenty-ninth Northland title.

Meanwhile at Ruawai greens, the semifinals saw Patricia Murray (Kensington) defeat the defending champion Sue Wightman (Mangawhai) 21-15 and Christine Budge (Ngunguru) defeated Betty Mitchell (Hikurangi) 21-16.

The final saw Murray with a handy 16-6 lead after 16 ends and although Budge tried hard she could not peg back this lead.

Murray played outstanding bowls in both of these matches with run shots and draw shots coming off for her when she was down on the head and played both matches with obvious confidence. This was a tenth title for Murray and gave her her first bar to her Centre gold star.

The Champion of Champion pairs will be played on Saturday, April 27 and the Champion of Champion triples will be played on Sunday, April 28.

The Northland Coaching Association will hold its annual Bonus Fours AC tournament on Tuesday, April 30 at the Kensington greens. Remember that each team must have a 1-8 year bowler included. Entries are still open and teams are invited to contact Sue Wightman on 09 4314795 or see the entry form in the Centre hand book.

Saturday, May 4 will see the regional final for junior 1-5 year bowlers played at the Hikurangi green. Entries are from Far North, Northland, North Harbour, Auckland and Counties Manukau.

Some exciting bowls should be in order with excellent bowlers in this division taking part. Play starts at 9am.

Club fixtures for the next week: Sunday, April 21 - Kensington Easter AC triples; Sunday, April 22 - Dargaville Easter AC triples; Wednesday, April 24 - Maungaturoto AC triples and Ngunguru AC triples; Saturday, April 27-28 - Kensington men's triples; Sunday, April 28 - Maungakaramea AC triples.