Bowls: Muir given much deserved honour

Congratulations to Ann Muir who won the Brian Maunsell Memorial Service to sport award at the Sport Northland event last Friday. Her service to bowls has spanned 40 years and this is great recognition for someone who has given back to the sport that she has been a member of for so long.

Besides reaching the pinnacle in the sport of NZ representation she has dedicated herself to coaching and her services are valued by centres all over the country. Well done Ann.

Bowls code awards were also presented to Anne Bateman and Adam Booth, both winning Centre titles and representing Northland in the past year.

Mixed pairs

The Centre Mixed Pairs were completed last Friday at the Hikurangi greens and were won by Anne Bateman and Ken Fitness representing the Hikurangi Club. In second place were Paul and Sue Wightman of Mangawhai. The Mangawhai pair struggled to find the pace of the green and were outplayed.

The centre pairs were played last Saturday and Sunday and a great entry of 42 men's teams and 26 women's teams took part. When the dust settled on Saturday night 16 men's team and 10 women's teams had qualified for post-section play. Once again the Hikurangi Club were in the limelight with teams reaching the final in both sections. The men's final was between Steve Mitchell and Willie Wytt of Hikurangi and Mike Butler and Trevor Johnston of Maungatapere. The game went down to the wire with five ends killed and having to be replayed during the match and then Maungatapere scoring a two on the final end to force the match into an extra end.

Maungatapere managed to hold onto one shot and won, 16-15. Hikurangi defeated Fitness and Smith of Whangarei 19-14 in one semifinal and Butler while Johnston defeated Rakich and Foy of Dargaville 17-8 to reach the final. This event was a 7th centre title for Johnston and 16th title for Butler.

In the women's division the final was between Anne Bateman and Linda Pedro of Hikurangi and Pam Brewster and Madeline Yovich of Kamo. The Hikurangi combination got off to a a great start having the Kamo combination 1-13 down after 7 ends. The second half of the game was far more even but the early advantage gained by Hikurangi was too much and the win went to Bateman and Pedro 18-11. In the semifinals Bateman and Pedro beat Jujnovich and Mills of Kensington 16-9 and Brewster and Yovich defeated Wightman and Wilson of Mangawhai 15-12, scoring a 3 on the last end to win the match. This took the number of centre titles to 23 each for Bateman and Pedro.

Reminders

Far North Centre are holding the Bay of Islands Combined women's fours tournament from March 11-13, 2013. The entry fee is $80 per team and only the first 32 entries received will be accepted.

Forward your entries to the Okaihau Club, Anne Wilson, c/- P.D.C. Okaihau.

Northland Centre events now take a break. Our next event is the Interclub Sevens competition to be held in January. Clubs are asked to forward entries, including names of players to the centre office. Entries close on January 3.

The event will be run in two divisions for both men and women.