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.
Lawn Bowls
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 23rd 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.
Paritutu continues to celebrate its centenary year in style.
On Sunday, Paritutu claimed the Vospers-sponsored division one women’s interclub title at Manaia and the Summerset-sponsored men’s division one men’s interclub title indoors at Paritutu. Also, at Manaia, Tower claimed the women’s second division title.
Paritutu needed to win just one game in the final round of the women’s interclub. But they were pushed all the way by Opunake, with Briar Atkinson claiming a four on the last end to beat Julie Hamahama 21-16, while Amanda Crehan and Bridget Fletcher came from behind to take the pairs from Val Langton and Eileen Rothwell 19-15. Pauline Davy’s four took down Gale Fache 15-7, but Paritutu, with 28 points, safely got home from Fitzroy (24) – who had a bye in the final round – and Opunake (18). The other members of the Paritutu squad were Alesha Quay, Tina Atkinson-Watt, Kileigh Barber and Barbara Harvey.
On the adjacent rinks at Manaia, Tower took out the second division title with a 2-1 victory over Paritutu. The winning Tower side comprised Faye Hopkins, Frances Busby, Frances Parkes, Lyn Scott, Jane Augustine, Alison Sayer, AJ Rowlands and Geneva Barnard.
In the men’s interclub, which was forced inside with the wet weather, Paritutu got off to a slow start winning just one game in the opening round. But they went clear after that to finish on 14 points, heading off West End (9), Okato (7) and Tower (6).
Aidan Zittersteijn’s four of his father John, Kurt Smith and Camron Horo excelled with three wins, while Dean Elgar in the singles and the pair of Adam Collins and Darren Goodin both recorded two wins.
Paritutu’s Briar Atkinson and Adam Collins are this season’s Tarranaki mixed pairs bowls champions
The duo turned on an impressive performance on the finals day at Paritutu to run out convincing winners of the Cross Country Rentals-sponsored event on Saturday.
In the final, they beat New Plymouth’s Val McEldowney and Kelly Hill 18-8, with the score reflecting the domination of the Paritutu pair. They drew more consistently and placed more bowls around the jack.
New Plymouth did have their moments – including a four on the second end – but after 12 of the scheduled 16 heads, Atkinson and Collins had taken control at 17-5.
McEldowney and Hill gave a brief flicker of hope when they pulled back three shots on the 13th. Their hope for a bonfire gathered some momentum on the next when they held four shots.
However, Collins expertly extinguished that when he drew a pearlier with his last bowl; New Plymouth immediately produced the white flag.
In the semifinals, McEldowney and Hill edged clubmates Anne Brophy and Bill Foley 15-13, while Atkinson and Collins were commanding 22-4 victors over West End’s Susan Cottam and Steve Temperton.
The victory gave Collins his third Taranaki crown, while Atkinson continued her growing domination on the women’s game by climbing to six. Atkinson’s latest victory follows her recent Taranaki junior sportswoman of the year award and a good performance at the Hong Kong International Classic, where she made the last 16 of the singles and the last six of the pairs.
The New Zealand selectors have given a further indication of their confidence in Atkinson, too. She is one of 14 women picked in the NZ High Performance squad for the season. There is further good news for Taranaki in the squad, with Hamish Kape (Okato) and Kaylin Huwyler (Paritutu) among the 19 men selected, while Kurt Smith (Oakura and Paritutu) is one of the 11 Para players included.
With the commencement of the rain, and more scheduled, players are asked to note the following:
- Vospers women’s division one and two interclub – please report to Manaia as scheduled for a 9am start.
- Summerset men’s division one – play will be indoors at Paritutu with a 9am start.
- Summerset men’s division two and Dean File junior interclub – no play today. Alternative dates will be confirmed, noting that 23 December 2023 is a reserve day in the programme.
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 3rd December at Manaia starting at 9am.
Final games to be completed are:
Division 1: Paritutu v Opunake, and
Division 2: Tower v Paritutu
Thanks
With the persistent rain, a full day’s play is not possible (on November 19). Please note the following:
Play in division one will occur in the Indoor Complex at Paritutu – see below for the specific times and rink allocations.
The scheduled division two final between Tower and Paritutu is postponed. A new date will be advised.
Division one schedule for 19 November 2023:
9am: Opunake v West End (rinks singles 2, pairs 3, fours 1, round 5 fixture); Fitzroy v New Plymouth (rinks singles 5, pairs 6, fours 4, round 5 fixture).
11.15am (approx.): Paritutu v Waitara (rinks singles 2, pairs 3, fours 1, round 5 fixture); Fitzroy v Opunake (rinks singles 6, pairs 4, fours 5, round 6 fixture).
2pm (approx.): Waitara v Stratford-Avon (rinks singles 3, pairs 1, fours 2, round 6 fixture); Paritutu v New Plymouth (rinks singles 6, pairs 4, fours 5, round 6 fixture).
This will leave one full round to be played – clubs will be advised in due course.