Monday, Apr 28 2025 – Sports News Taranaki
Grant Hassall
Fitzroy’s Paul Spurdle created bowls history on Saturday when he claimed two Taranaki titles in one day.
The feat was achieved in the Suchy & Co Realty champion-of-champions finals day at Stratford-Avon and while there have been other players also win multiple events on one day, Spurdle is the first to do it as a first-year player.
The first victory came in men’s fours final, where Spurdle combined with substitute Simon Rowe, Chris Campny and skip John Gray to beat Darren Goodin’s Paritutu four. The Fitzroy quartet gave as good as they got and while they were aided by one fortuitous Gray drive, deservedly pulled a five on the penultimate end to win 16-12.
Spurdle’s second triumph came in the men’s triples, where with Mark Hawken and Maurice Symes, they beat Kaylin Huwyler’s Paritutu side 17-16 on an extra end. Huwyler’s trio was aiming for an unprecedent three-peat, and that appeared inevitable as they shot to an 8-2 lead in the final. But the veteran Symes kept his team in the game, and after he encouraged his front two to reach the head, they responded better.
Spurdle is part of Taranaki’s first-family of bowls, with three of his great-uncles, Bill, Ernie and Barney gold star holders. There was also poignancy in the fours win, with the trophy named in the memory of his great grandfather, Fred.
Finals weekend also brought career milestones for Elaine Hodge (New Plymouth) and Mark Anderson (Tower).
Hodge skipped her side of substitute Carolyn Batchelor, Anne Brophy and Margie Carey to a 20-9 win over Trish Howard’s West End team in the women’s fours final.
While Hodge had never intended to follow her late mother, Grace Green, into bowls, she eventually did and Saturday’s win qualified her for a gold star for five titles.
Her previous titles were secured in the junior singles (2010), the champion-of-champions fours (2011), the champion-of-champions triples (2012) and the open pairs last season.
Anderson skipped his brothers, Brendan and Grant, to the men’s open triples title on Sunday. They ran away from West End’s Denis Rudman, Blair Clark and Darren Scott 26-8 in the final. Appropriately, their family business, Andersons Pies, sponsored the triples, and for Mark Anderson, the victory was his 20th Taranaki crown.
Elsewhere, Hamish Kape took the senior men’s singles 21-11 from Gray, while Kristin Stampa (Stratford-Avon) won the women’s 21-14 from Chris Commane (Opunake).
Val Langton and Eileen Rothwell won the women’s pairs 20-13 from Melissa McEwen-Shepherd and Stampa, while the red-hot form of Kurt Smith and Daryl Read (Paritutu) continued when they won the men’s pairs from Levi Davis and Ross Sinclair (Opunake) 22-9.
Tower’s Alethea Rowlands, Ella Smailes and Frances Busby won the women’s triples from Cindy Nicoll’s Inglewood team 16-13, while in the Abraham’s Open triples, it was victory to Fitzroy’s Lea File, Judy Crawford and Rhonda Adams. They beat Paritutu’s Marlene McArthur, Marlene Barrowman and Heather Johns 22-16.
In the junior singles, it was a double for Opunake with Lois Debique beating Linda Kape (Okato) 21-7, and Sinclair taking the men’s.
Sinclair’s 21-16 win over Fitzroy’s Ian Dawson was arguably the highest quality game of the weekend, with the appreciative gallery enthralled.