Skye Renes (seen here) took out the weekend's junior pairs tournament alongside Barbara Hopper when the duo beat Janice Little and Karina Cooper. Photo / File
Skye Renes (seen here) took out the weekend's junior pairs tournament alongside Barbara Hopper when the duo beat Janice Little and Karina Cooper. Photo / File
The centre junior pairs were completed last weekend with section play at One Tree Point and post-section play at Waipū on Sunday.
A disappointing entry of only eight teams in each section was received, however, it was pleasing to see that six first-year bowlers and five second-year bowlers took part. All performed very well, showing great promise for the future.
At the end of day one, there were three qualifiers in the men's division and four in the women's division.
Congratulations to David Warren (Mt Manaia) and John Wilde (Ngunguru), who combined to take out the men's division from Gordon Wright and Keith McFarlane of Kensington.
Wright had the bye in round one while Warren and Wilde had a very close match against their clubmates Lew Hill and Grant Jones when they scored one point on an extra end to take out the match.
In the final, a four on the sixth end allowed Warren to take a handy lead after the first five ends had been very even. Five shots scored on the next three ends shot Wright into the lead, only for him to drop a three and one shot on the next two ends.
After 13 ends, there was only one shot between the two teams. Warren then scored on the next three ends and went into the last end with a four-shot advantage.
They scored a two on the last to win the match by 18-12. Both teams concentrated on draw bowls and close heads throughout the match were the order of the day. All credit to John Wilde and David Warren who were first and second in the first-year singles last season.
Round 1: G. Wright and K. McFarlane (bye) D. Warren and J. Wilde beat L. Hill and G. Jones 14-13
Final: David Warren and John Wilde beat Gordon Wright and Keith McFarlane 18-12
In the women's division, four teams qualified. In round one, Skye Renes (Onerahi) and Barbara Hopper (Kensington) beat Sue Belin and Fran Waterhouse (Mangawhai) 16-7, and Janice Little (Kensington) and Karina Cooper (Kamo) beat Sarah Childs & Sheryl Ball (Waipu) 15-10.
Karina Cooper from Kamo (left) and Barbara Hopper from Ngunguru had a tight battle in the women's junior pairs final over the weekend. Photo / File
The final between Renes and Little started off as a close match and, after six ends, the score was 4-3 to Little. Then the wheels fell off for the Little/Cooper combination and they dropped 11 shots in the next five ends.
The Renes/Hopper combination found their line and drew consistent excellent draw bowls scoring a possible six shots on one end. The Little/Cooper combination could not find line nor length and, after dropping nine shots on the 15th and 16th ends, conceded the match.
Final: S. Renes and B. Hopper beat J. Little and K. Cooper 24-8.
The next event on the centre calendar is the Bowls3Five mixed triples which start next Wednesday at the Kensington greens. Play starts at 6pm. Eleven teams have entered this event and I am still looking for one further entry to avoid a bye.
This event is the qualifying section of the Bowls3Five event currently being screened on Sky channel 53. The event is played as two sets of five ends, with a tiebreaker of one end if sets are tied.
Each team has one power-play end where they can double the shots scored if successful. This tournament continues into the New Year and should be an exciting format for spectators.
The centre inter-club sevens entries close on Thursday. This event finds a winner to go forward and play off for a New Zealand title. This will be played on the weekend of December 5-6.
Clubs, ensure your entries are in for this event (men's and women's divisions) by November 25 to the centre office.
Entries are also now being accepted for the centre open triples to be played on December 12-13. Enter on our Centre website.
Coming club events: Saturday/Sunday: Club Championships Tuesday: Kamo AC Triples; Wednesday: Whangārei women's triples, Bowls3Five at Kensington Thursday: Ngunguru AC triples Friday: One Tree Point 2x4x2 AC pairs
