Twenty one players represented the Taitokerau rohe at the 54th Sunshine Coast District Winter Bowls Carnival held in Queensland earlier in the month. Eileen Strongman from Kaikohe - as the spokesman for the Northland contingent - noted the week-long carnival which ran for lawn bowlers from Monday to Saturday, July 4-9, was held on facilities and venues along the coast, where a range of social and competitive events were designed to appeal to beginners and more experienced bowlers alike.
A highlight for the travelling party was the inclusion of first-year bowlers, Graeme Sutherland and Hilton McCarthy, and juniors Ella Dorreen along with Lyn and Ron Faithfull. Eileen noted these players in particular really enjoyed the experience of having to learn to adapt to playing on a variety of surfaces including synthetic, carpet and grass each day.
The first day's play was held at Mooloolaba, with the format being open pairs (three games 1x5 bowl, 1x4 bowl, 1x3 bowl). Kaitaia's Peter Dorreen and Paul Huxtable took out the top prize with 24 points, 19 ends, in a field of 34 teams featuring 44 players from New Zealand.
Day two's play at Caloundra took the form of mixed pairs (four games of 12 ends of 2x2x2x2 pairs) with Kaitaia husband-and-wife team, Paul and Jean Huxtable, emerging overall winners with 23 points and 30.5 ends in a field featuring 37 players from New Zealand.
The day three card at Palmwoods featured open two-bowl triples (four games of 16 ends) and with 46 players from New Zealand involved. Eileen noted Jean Huxtable was asked to present the prizes at the end of the day, although Taitokerau was otherwise conspicuous by its absence on the podium: "I guess the shock of seeing themselves on local TV channel, 8 News, the night before with their harmonious waiata took the spunk out of them."
