Massive effort comes up short

Wairarapa gave a bold showing in their Burton Bates representative indoor bowls match with Upper Hutt despite their 17-point losing margin.

At the end of round one of rinks play, Wairarapa led 10-6 but Upper Hutt struck back in round two singles to edge ahead 25-23.

Round three was pairs and Upper Hutt increased their lead to have a 47-32 advantage at the halfway mark.

Round four rinks play saw Upper Hutt take a 52-36 lead but Wairarapa then closed the gap to 64-56 after the fifth round of singles, with only one round of pairs remaining.

And it was Upper Hutt who finished the stronger to record a 80.5 to 63.5 victory.

Last Tuesday saw the Central club finish off their pairs championship. Of the nine teams entered, three qualified and in the semifinal Peter Bain and Janice Leighton beat Elva Simonsen and Steve Rowlet 11-4. That took them into the final against Kelvin Simonsen and Shirley Field and in a hard-fought encounter, Simonsen and Field prevailed 13-9.

There were six qualifiers from a field of 14 in the South Wairarapa Workingmen's Club's singles championship.

Reaching the final were Adrian Tregurtha and Max Jury and it was Tregurtha who was victorious by a small margin.

The South Wairarapa association pairs were played last Wednesday with the Max Jury Cup up for grabs.

Of the 12 teams, those to qualify were Avon Innes and Howard Billman (Morisons Bush), Peter Diamond and Josef Hajnes (SWWMC), Steven Johnston and Gail Miller, Bruce Howie and Peg Pope and Lorna Green and Murray Hume, all of Oddfellows.

The post-section play was close but ultimately, it was Diamond and Hajnes that defeated Green and Hume 13-3 in the final.