JACKS CORNER - Good turnout for memorial bowls matches

With Garry Houlahan
Onerahi Bowling Club held their annual Fred Burkhardt Memorial Triples tournament at the weekend and, as usual, there was a good turnout from throughout Northland and the Far North.
After qualifying play on Saturday, the top eight teams played off for the main event, while the remainder went into a consolation event.
Winners of each of the main sections were Ian McMurchy's Maungatapere team and Ron Bowmar's Onerahi team.
Because of the weather, the games on Sunday were reduced to six ends. After four ends had been completed , it looked as if McMurchy was in for an easy win, leading 6-0.
However Ron Bowmar came back with five shots on the fifth end and looked as if he could be holding shot on the last end until Ian McMurchy played a brilliant bowl to draw shot and take the title.
Ian had Jim Taylor and Bruce Clarkson with him while Ron was with Audrey Fry and Des Symons.
In the consolation event, which was played indoors, George Lyddiard from Kensington was the winner ahead of Betty Pouwhare from Hikurangi and Ian Halls from Onerahi.
* $3800 raised
Mangawhai recently hosted a charity day of bowls, which raised $1000 for the Mangawhai First Response and $2300 for the Masonic Trust.
Winners on A green: Denis Double from New Lynn ahead of Ted Mooney (Maungaturoto), Sue Wightman (Hakaru), Wilf Benfield (Mangawhai) and Colin Neal (Mangawhai). On B green the winners were: C. Ryan from Pt Chevalier ahead of J. Morris (Mangawhai), Colin Wintle (Mangawhai), Robbie Marchant (Mangawhai) and Ray Martin (Mt Manaia).
On the same day, the Whangarei Bowling Club also had a charity day which raised over $500 for the Kidney Foundation. Winner of this event was a team skipped by Nancy Bradshaw, with Dave Holwell the runner-up.
Good to see bowlers dipping into their pockets to help these charities out.
* Eye on national finals
Many bowlers were keeping an eye on results coming from Palmerston North last week, with our Interclub Sevens and Intercentre teams contesting the national finals.
Unfortunately, no joy in the results but a good performance all the same.
The Kensington club had two women's teams in the finals of the Interclub Sevens. In division one, they ended up in fifth spot with 10 points, while in division two they were sixth with eight points. They can still be proud of their achievement in making the national final.
The Intercentre men and women's teams both made the finals and once again good performances but no glory. Men finished fifth with 12 points while the women were sixth with 10 points.
I tried to analyse the results in these competitions but the finer points of the sets system escapes me completely so I gave up.
I am lead to believe, however, that the tie breaker results were crucial in a number of games but the results did not go Northland's way.
The men's Intercentre team in particular appeared to score well to give them a plus factor of net shots while the winner of the competition ended up with a negative factor. Funny things happen in bowls.
* Mulligan's first title
Mangawhai Bowls completed their championship triples recently and it was good to see Gerry Mulligan win his first club title after 12 years of trying.
He skipped Aaron Van Haaften and Charlie Shepherd to a win over Lindsay Stichbury, Paul Freeman and Neville Franks and claim the title. I understand the celebrations carried on for a good many hours.
* Juniors' close call
Northland junior bowlers completed their programme at the weekend with the pairs competition at Ruawai. The winners of the women's event were Ann Halls and Rose Tantau from Onerahi, who beat Jude Ganley and Linda Brocklebank from Kensington 15-13 in a close game.
The Kensington pair needed three shots on the last end to force a draw but managed to score just the one.
In the men's event it was not quite so close, with the game conceded with one end still to play. The winners were Adam Booth and Paul Freeman from Mangawhai who beat Rhys Jones and Simon Reesby from Kensington 20-12.
Some very good bowls were played and we have plenty of talent in the one to five year group but they'll need to lift their game to the next level when they make it to representative games.