JACKS CORNER - Weather fails to dampen spirits at regional champs

With Garry Houlahan
The regional finals of the NZ Community Trustchampionships were held at Onerahi.
On Wednesday play started with the Mixed Pairs and this was won by an Auckland combination of Mike Kernaghan and Raelene Castle with three straight wins.
On Thursday the singles were played in wild weather, which really made a farce of the competition. In the men's event the winner was Joe Thorburn from Northland who played David Hood (Far North) in what amounted to the final as whichever player won the game would win the competition.
Joe Thorburn looked to be in for a comfortable win when leading 15-6 but then went six ends without scoring to allow Hood to tie the scores up at 15-15 but with his very last bowl Joe drew the shot to win 16-15.
In the women's singles the winner was Lisa Parlane from North Harbour on a countback from Auckland after both had won two of their three games. All the players deserve a medal for staying out in torrential rain and gale force winds and still playing some pretty good bowls under the conditions.
Friday was pairs day and in the men's event a mix-up saw Auckland's Danny Delaney and Chris Le Lievre declared winners over Far North's Paul Vegar and Ian Hollows on a countback, only to have this decision reversed later when Bowls New Zealand's conditions of play were clarified so the Far North pair will be going to the national final in April.
The women's pairs went to Northland's Caroline Downs and Lauren Mills on a countback and so they will also be off to Rotorua for the national final.
On Saturday the triples was played and both the men's and women's events went to visitors. The men's winner was North Harbour's Dennis Matthews, Keith Burgess and Terry Moveley while the women's winners were Auckland's Hettie Bolcher, Rene Stratford and Denise Samuel. The men's event required a countback whereas the women's was straightforward, with the New Lynn team having three wins from their three matches.
The tournament wound up with the fours being played and the interest went right to the wire. In the men's event both Auckland and Northland won their first two games and so whoever won the final between the two teams would be the overall winner.
Onerahi's John Dunn, Warwick Edgar, Bruce Horscroft and Gordon Bond took an early advantage leading 10-4 but then dropped a single followed by two fours to fall behind 10-13. They then evened up at 13-13 and 15-15 before getting a decisive break with a two and a three to take the lead 20-15 and managed to hang on a finally win 21-18.
The women's was not so clear-cut with Auckland and North Harbour tied after two rounds on three points each. After a few ends it looked as if Auckland would run away with things as they led Northland 11-0 and a win would have given them the competition on a countback. However Northland fought back and defeated Auckland which gave the tournament to the North Harbour team from Sunnybrae of Mary Guldbrandsen, Colleen Sexton, Vicky O'Connor and Cheryl Taylor.
All winners will go through to the national finals to be played at Rotorua on April 24 and 25.
Congratulations to all those who were successful, especially the Northland and Far North players.
* Home clubs battle it out
Kerikeri Bowling Club held their annual two-day triples tournament last week and it was a local victory with teams from the home club fighting out the final.
The winner was Paul Vegar's team who defeated David Hood 11-9 but not without a struggle. Vegar led 8-1 early on but Hood and his team fought back and playing the last end the scores were tied up 9-9. Hood held shot but Vegar ran the kitty into the ditch to pick up two shots and win 11-9. In the third and fourth place game it was a composite side in the name of B.
McKeating who beat Kamo's Graham Gallant 13-8 to take third spot. In the consolation it was once again the Far North successful with a composite team skipped by B Stevenson the winner ahead of another local team skipped by T Riley, with a couple of visitors in G Wintle (Mangawhai) and S Prasad (Bowls Whangarei) sharing third and fourth as they both exactly the same wins, ends and points score.
* Bowl up for fundraiser
Kittyhawks Bowling Club are holding their final fundraiser for the season at Bowls Whangarei on March 23.
The charity to benefit from the day's activities will be North Haven Hospice.
Remember you do not have to be a member of the Kittyhawks to participate. This is an open tournament and the organisers will be pleased to see as many outside bowlers as possible.
Please get your entries in to either Peter Manuel on 4315512, Nick Puharich on 4397356, Brian Vincent on 0274537834 or Harry Davis on 4376037.
Let's try and make this final tournament of the season a beauty.
* Skills pushed to the edge
A very competitive tournament for 1-10 year bowlers sponsored by Yovich & Co was held at Bowls Whangarei. Sixteen teams of any combination triples lined up and played five qualifying rounds following which the top four qualifiers played a semifinal and then a final.
Top qualifier with a full bag of five wins was Chris Gibbs from Waipu, while Kevin Robinson (Maungaturoto), Ann Halls (Onerahi) and Ray Martin (Composite) made up the other spots. In the semis Kevin Robinson beat Chris Gibbs (and reversed the result when the two met in pool play), while Ann Halls accounted for Ray Martin.
The final was all one-way traffic, with Robinson clearing out for a comfortable win. The winning team was Kevin Robinson, Terry McMahon and Kevin Flower while the runners up were Ann Halls, Patricia Murray and Sharon McKinnon.
A very good tournament, which displayed the depth of talent in our 1-10 year ranks.
* Strong field for event
The Wilson Pairs at Dargaville has always been a most popular event and the women held their tournament and last week and attracted a very strong field.
The winners of the main event were a composite team of Peg Wardell (Bowls Whangarei) playing with her sister-in-law Judy Jones of Dargaville, who beat an Orewa pairing of Pam Davies and Olga La Hood to take the title.
The win would have been especially satisfying for Judy Jones as her husband Max won the men's Wilson Pairs a year or so ago, so now there are two winners in the household. Third was shared by Jan Werner/ Margaret Burke (Arapohue) and Anne Bateman/Diane Stewart (Composite).
The plate was won by Ann Radonich/Sally Hobson from Dargaville and second went to Phyllis Holmes/Ngaire Nicholls from Kensington. Third was shared by Melva Sandford/Noeline Munn (Dargaville) and Maureen Rahui/Betty Pouwhare (Composite). In the consolation the winners were Melva Stobie/Judy Dony (Te Kauwhata) and runners up were Corrine Pritchard/Dixie Tomkins from Auckland.
All in all, a pretty good tournament.