Ian Lewis

Grant Hassall

Christmas has come early for New Plymouth’s Val McEldowney and Elaine Hodge and West End’s Bruce Colgan and Steve Walker.

Both duos rose to the top to claim the big pairs prizes in Taranaki bowls on Saturday.

McEldowney and Hodge won a nail-biting final of the Andersons Pies-sponsored women’s open pairs 19-16 over Paritutu’s Bridget Fletcher and Cathy Andrews at Hawera Park.

Colgan and Walker’s finals success came 21-8 over the two-time defending champions in the Auto City-sponsored men’s Christmas pairs, clubmates John Roberts and Craig De Faria, at Paritutu.

McEldowney and Hodge opened the scoring in the final with two singles, but it was not until the 15th head, that they regained the lead. Fletcher and Andrews led 8-2 through seven ends, before the New Plymouth team climbed back into the contest. The lead regularly changed on the home straight. A three on the penultimate end – McEldowney held the shot on the change-over with Hodge adding in two beauties – gave the New Plymouth pair a two-shot buffer. They secured the title with a single on the last end.

In the semifinals, New Plymouth came from 17-8 down to beat Opunake’s Chris Commane and Pauline Davy 21-20, while Paritutu defeated Hawera Park’s Pauline Kennedy and Kristin Stampa 23-10.

The victory was Hodge’s fourth Taranaki crown – coming 12 years after the last – and the 15th title for McEldowney. Her tally comprises a title in the junior singles, champ pairs, open fours, open singles, open pairs twice, open triples four times and the mixed pairs on five occasions.

Three massive last bowls from Walker on ends 14, 15 and 16 firmly swung the men’s pairs final to him and Colgan.

After 13 ends, they held a 10-7 lead but the contest was wide open. Two down on the 14th, a Walker drive sliced the jack to net three shots. On the next, when four down, Walker calmly drew the ace with his last delivery. Then, on the 16th, when one down, Walker ran off the jack-low shot bowl for a count of four.

Suddenly, the score had blown out to 18-7. Had the Walker magic been missing on those ends, the score would have read 14-10 to De Faria. But big bowls win tournaments and few observers could deny the consistency of Colgan and Walker in their triumph.

Colgan collected his second Taranaki title with the win and Walker his 11th.

In the semifinals, Colgan and Walker overturned an 8-1 deficit to beat Fitzroy’s Mark Hawken and Maurice Symes 21-11, while Roberts and De Faria were commanding 21-8 winners over Camron Horo and Hamish Kape (Okato).

Congratulations to Hawera Park and New Plymouth, who have won through to the final of the Patty Symes sponsored Women’s Egmont Shield. Congratulations to both sides. They will play in a final on the Tuesday 6th of February. 1pm Start

Venue to be confirmed.

Grant Hassall

Taranaki bowlers are a hardy lot.

That came to the surface again on Sunday when wet weather threatened but didn’t prevent play in the Taranaki pairs events.

The women, in the Anderson’s Pies-sponsored event at Stratford-Avon, managed two post section rounds before the greens were flooded. The six remaining sides will finalise the event this Saturday at Hawera Park.

The men, after playing their opening post section round in Sunday morning’s drizzle, retreated inside to Paritutu’s indoor complex, managing to reduce the 41 qualifiers in the Auto City-sponsored Christmas pairs to just eight teams.

Paritutu’s indoor complex had also been called into action in recent weeks when rain impacted on the interclub competitions.

In the women’s pairs, the two duos through to the semifinals are Val McEldowney and Elaine Hodge (New Plymouth) and Chris Commane and Pauline Davy (Opunake). Hodge beat Val Symes (Fitzroy) 20-10 in the quarterfinals, while Davy accounted for Rhonda Adams (Fitzroy) 21-13 at the same time.

The four other surviving pairs are Cheryll Sharrock and Gale Fache (Paritutu), Pauline Kennedy and Kristin Stampa (Hawera Park), Cathy Andrews and Bridget Fletcher (Paritutu) and Alethea Rowlands and Lyn Scott (Tower).

The skips of the last eight pairs in the men’s event reads like a who’s who of Taranaki bowls. It includes Craig De Faria (West End), who with lead John Roberts, is hunting a third-successive victory in the competition.

Maurice Symes (Fitzroy), Kaylin Huwyler (Paritutu), Darren Goodin (Paritutu), Steve Walker (West End), Ron Gadsby (Fitzroy), Hamish Kape (Okato) and Darren Scott (West End) skip the other pairs still in contention.

De Faria had a close shave against Sean Cullinan and the highly promising Nigel Berry (Hawera Park) on Sunday morning. De Faria got home 19-18. However, things were much easier in the afternoon, with the four-time champion and Roberts thumping New Plymouth’s Peter Robertson and Laurence Hori 19-1.

Walker and Bruce Colgan accounted for three West End teams during the day. In the last 16 they beat Neil Candy and John Garrud 21-18, after leading by one shot playing the last end. In the prior round, Colgan and Walker snatched a 23-20 victory over Dave Wilson and Jordan Linn. Wilson and Linn led by four shots playing the last end. But Colgan and Walker drew four winners and then dominated the extra end.

Gadsby and Evan Jones – the 2022 champion-of-champions winners – edged past Patea’s Brendan Anderson and Bruce Phillips 15-14 in the last 16. The scores were even playing the last end, during which both leads had bowls touching the jack at the same time.

Kape and Camron Horo also had two close matches during the day. In the second round, Kape turned out the opponent’s shot bowl to take a single and deny Simon Rowe and Bill Johnston (Fitzroy) 16-15. Then, in a titanic clash, Horo and Kape got home 22-17 over Paritutu’s Dean Elgar and Aidan Zittersteijn.

Summerset Men’s Division 2 and Dean File Colliers Real Estate Junior Interclub were rained off at Paritutu. The next scheduled date is Saturday the 23^rd December. 9am Start.

Summerset Men’s Division 2 Interclub Finals will be played at Opunake.
Dean File Colliers Real Estate Junior Interclub Finals will be played at Stratford-Avon.

Good luck to all those involved.

This weekend sees the completion of the Cross Country Rentals Mixed Pairs, the Summerset Men’s Interclub, Vospers Women’s Interclub and the Dean File Colliers Real Estate Junior Interclub.

Please note: We will use the stadium if required to finish the Mixed Pairs on Saturday, and on Sunday Division 1 of Men’s Interclub.

If there is rain, information will be available on the website on the morning of play. Draws are available through chartroom, on the Website. Good luck to all those players involved.

We are happy to welcome a number of new teams to Taranaki for The Devon Hotel Women’s Open Fours. At this stage entries have closed, however we are looking for one more team to prevent a bye, if you would like to visit from out of town for the tournament, we do also have some spare accommodation available. See below for the full list of teams this year. Good luck to all the teams entered.

The Devon Hotel Taranaki Women’s Open Fours Team List 2024

Due to rain during the final days play of Vospers Women’s Interclub, Division 1 and the final of Division 2 have been rescheduled. The final games will be played on 3^rd December at Manaia starting at 9am.

Final games to be completed are:
Division 1: Paritutu v Opunake, and
Division 2: Tower v Paritutu

Thanks

We are excited to welcome all of our new players and returning teams for the Midlands Funds Management Taranaki Open Fours this season. You can view all of the teams below.

We are looking for an extra team, to fill a section, so if you have missed out and want to put your team in, get in quick and contact the Centre Office on 027 757 8800. We do have some accommodation available for visiting teams, so if you would like to come to Taranaki and experience The Best Week of Bowls in New Zealand, get in touch.

Midlands Funds Management Taranaki Open Fours Teams List 2023-24

Vospers Women’s Interclub concludes this weekend at Paritutu with the remaining rounds of Division 1 and the Final of Division 2. Play will start at 9am.

If there is the prospect of rain, please check the website. The Stadium may be used if wet for Division 1.

Draws for the Final Day of Summerset Men’s Interclub and Dean File Colliers Real Estate Junior Interclub have been released. See Interclub and Shield Draws.