Lawn Bowls

West End’s Dean Elgar collected his official 15th Taranaki title in emphatic fashion on Monday.

Elgar withstood a tough and a long day to claim his sixth Taranaki men’s open singles crown, beating Okato’s Hamish Kape 21-10 in the final at West End.

Elgar put on an excellent display, dominating the majority of the final of the Janko Computers-sponsored event and showing that the 2017 Dominion singles winner remains a top talent.

The victory enabled Elgar to be awarded a second bar to his gold star for 15 titles. Elgar’s 15 Taranaki titles were accumulated in the open singles (2003, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2022), Christmas pairs (2013, 2019), open triples (2015, 2021), champion-of-champions singles (2010, 2015, 2019), champion-of-champions triples (2017) and champion-of-champions fours (2011).Three earlier mixed pairs events pre-amalgamation do not count. In addition, Elgar has also won the Bill Smee twice, the NZ intercentre, the Dominion fours (2019) and a Manawatu Superbowls.

In the final, Elgar jumped out to a 6-1 lead and after nine ends that had become 15-4.

Kape rallied, closing to 16-10 in arrears, before Elgar took two singles and a three to wrap up the title.

Both earlier semifinals were one-sided, with Elgar beating Bruce Phillips (Patea) 21-8 and Kape defeating Dave Wilson (West End) 21-9.

After 34 players had qualified by lunchtime on Sunday, Elgar received the roughest end of the draw and needed to win six games in post section.

Of the four games he played on Monday, his quarterfinal against Daryl Read (Paritutu) was his trickiest, Elgar coming from 20-15 down to emerge a 21-20 victor.

Meanwhile, New Plymouth’s Val McEldowney won the Jean Sandel-sponsored Taranaki women’s open singles which was also finalised on Monday at West End.

It was McEldowney’s second victory in the singles and she now has 14 Taranaki titles in total.

She beat clubmate Margy Carey 21-17 in the decider.

While Carey did hold the edge in the opening third of the match, leading 7-5, the next stanza was dominated by McEldowney. The 2013 Dominion singles winner drew more consistently to create a 19-11 lead.

However, Carey then produced her best bowls of the final, taking the next four ends to close up the game at 19-17. But McEldowney drew two shots on the next to conclude the contest.

Carey was especially impressive in the semifinals, ousting Kristin Stampa (Hawera Park) 21-8, while McEldowney had a ding-dong clash with Cathy Andrews (Paritutu), prevailing 21-18.

Two post section rounds on Sunday afternoon at Paritutu had whittled the 14 qualifiers down to the semifinalists.

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Thank you all for your patience as we deal with Covid-19.

Prior to the draw being released on Wednesday for this weekend’s Open singles, we had had five pullouts from the men’s field and two from the women’s event. All vacancies had been filled by Wednesday.

In the last 48 hours, we have had a further five withdrawals from the mens and two from the womens. The womens field has again been filled and the draw will be updated later today. The men’s field, however, is currently three short. If we can not fill these holes, wins will occur by default. Again, the draw will be finalised later today.

For the Bayleys Real Estate-sponsored Hugh Moss junior pairs, we have been blown away with a record entry of 48 teams. Section play occurs on March 19 at Stratford-Avon and Inglewood. Because of Covid, once again, the draw will not be released until the Wednesday prior to the event.

The draw for both the men’s Janko Computers-sponsored Open singles and the women’s Jean Sandel-sponsored Open singles will be released on Wednesday. The events are scheduled for March 12-14.

This decision has been made because of the risk of further pull-outs because of Covid-19 and the need to perform a redraw.

Currently there are 84 in the men’s singles and 40 in the women’s singles. Two further entries are required at this stage to enable the perfect draw, which is divisible by six. Players will play four games and mark two between 9am Saturday and lunchtime on Sunday. Post section will follow on Sunday afternoon and on Monday.

West End will act as headquarters, with play also at Paritutu, Fitzroy and Inglewood.

Paritutu have done the double in the triples.

The New Plymouth-based club won both the men’s and women’s open triples titles on Saturday.

In the Abrahams-sponsored women’s event, the victorious side was Briar Atkinson, Bridget Fletcher and Jackie Moeahu. The men’s Andersons Pies-sponsored title went to Darren Goodin, Hamish Kape and Don Christensen.

The victory by Atkinson, who produced a number of excellent shots throughout the day, was a big step in the career of the 17-year-old.

In the final, played at Fitzroy, her side edged away in the second half of the match to beat Opunake’s Pauline Davy, Rita Davey and Chris Commane 20-11.

After Atkinson’s side had led 9-4 after eight ends, Davy’s team levelled the ledger at 10-all after 12 of the scheduled 21 ends.

Atkinson’s front two then found their groove better, with the next five ends going to Paritutu to give them a match-winning 17-10 lead.

It was the third Taranaki title for both Moeahu and Fletcher and a second for Atkinson.

In the earlier semifinals, Atkinson had also pulled away in the second half of the match to beat clubmates Barbara Harvey, Berys Norgate and Amanda Crehan 22-14. Davy needed an extra end to squeeze past New Plymouth’s Heather Thomas, Val Fleming and Jopie Half 19-17.

In the men’s decider at Stratford-Avon, Goodin’s team were emphatic in the final, winning 22-6 over West End’s Garry Murfitt, Darren Scott and Bruce Colgan.

The mood of the match started on the opening end, when Goodin drove off a Colgan shot to secure a four. While Murfitt responded with a single and a two, that was as close as they got. Goodin led 11-3 after six, then 17-4 after 10 ends. Just 16 heads were completed, as Goodin collected his 24th Taranaki title, Kape secured his fourth and Christensen his 12th.

Both Goodin and Murfitt produced some impressive attacking shots in the earlier semifinals. Goodin overcame a small, mid-game deficit to beat Tower’s Anderson brothers, Mark, Grant and Brendan, 21-15. Murfitt held on to beat clubmates Paul Darbyshire, Bruce Hall and Steve Temperton 20-17 after leading by two shots playing the last end.

Meanwhile, Okato claimed the Radius Care-sponsored Taranaki men’s Shield at Vogeltown on Saturday. In a close finish, Okato president and skip Bruce Peacock drew a mighty shot to ensure victory for his side.

Okato finished with four wins and one draw from six games to head off Inglewood (two wins and one draw) and Tower (two wins).

Stratford-Avon’s Lindsay Franklin is the 2022 TCB-sponsored Taranaki First Year singles champion.

Franklin won the title this afternoon at Paritutu, beating West End’s Mark McDonald 21-17 in the final. The well-known Franklin, a former barber and also a competitive 8-ball pool player, he had to endure a few anxious moments against McDonald, who has previously established himself as a most competent competitor at indoor bowls.

The final was locked at 7-all, before a three, a single and a further three to Franklin gave him a handy 14-7 lead. McDonald closed to 15-13 behind, and then leveled at 17-all. However, Franklin, the son of country music legends Rex and Noelene, then claimed an invaluable three and a single to clinch the title.

Sharing third-equal were Paul Eaton and Terry Hancock, both of West End.

It was the fifth year that the First Year singles has been held.

Previous winners:

2018 Neville Nodder (Fitzroy)

2019 Todd Curtis (Tower)

2020 Amanda Crehan (Paritutu)

2021 Kerry Mullan (Tower)

2022 Lindsay Franklin (Stratford-Avon).

For full results, go to: First Year singles results

The Taranaki junior Bowls3five event was concluded at Lepperton this evening with Paritutu 3 (Briar Atkinson, Tina Atkinson-Watt, Nathan Goodin) defeating Inglewood (Len Spick, Chris Gyde, Kevin Koch) 3-2, 6-1 in the final. The beaten semi finalists were Paritutu 1 and Stratford-Avon 2.

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Inglewood have become the fourth winners of the Taranaki Open bowls3five title. On Tuesday (22/02/22) evening at Stratford-Avon, the Inglewood side of Cindy Nicoll, Len Spick and Paul Howell have taken out the title.

The side needed a tie-breaker to win both its semi and final games on the evening.

Howell’s team squared off against Paritutu’s Briar Atkinson, Kaylin Huwyler and skip Hamish Kape in the decider. Inglewood won the first set 8-0, before Paritutu took the second 13-0, with one-end left unplayed. That saw it all come down to the tie-breaker, with Nicoll, Spick and Howell taking the single to earn the right to represent Taranaki in the playoffs later in the season.

In the earlier semifinals, Inglewood beat West End (Trish Howard, Darren Scott, Bruce Colgan) 5-7, 7-4, 1-0 in one semifinal. In the other semi, Paritutu defeated Hawera Park (Judy Stuart, Sean Prinsloo, Kristin Stampa) 13-2, 6-0.

The semifinals and final of the junior bowls3five event will be contested between two Paritutu sides, Stratford-Avon and Inglewood at Lepperton on Wednesday (23/02/22) evening.

For the full results of the Taranaki open Bowls3five, go to: Bowls3five results

Past winners of the Taranaki open Bowls3five event:

2019 West End

2020 Paritutu

2021 New Plymouth

2022 Inglewood

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First-time skip Briar Atkinson has made her way into the semifinals of the Taranaki women’s open triples.

Atkinson, aged 17 years, was successful in skipping her side, which includes Jackie Moeahu and her mother Tina Atkinson-Watt, into the last four of the Abraham’s Funeral Home-sponsored event at Fitzroy on Sunday.

The Paritutu trio also did it with a bit of class. In the quarterfinals, the team ended the hopes of the champion side of two years ago, Lorraine Crofskey, Loris Ropitini and Cindy Nicoll (Inglewood), 25-11. In the morning round, Atkinson’s side ousted West End’s Susan Cottam 21-15.

Atkinson has emerged on the local scene in the past two years with victories in the junior champion-of-champions singles and the mixed pairs, but this is her first time in charge of a side.

In the semifinals, that will be played on March 5 at Fitzroy, Atkinson’s side will square off against another Paritutu team – Amanda Crehan, Berys Norgate and skip Barbara Harvey.

Harvey’s side, which took out the Paritutu club triples earlier in the season, sneaked home 19-17 over clubmates Sandra Feek, Cheryll Sharrock and Gloria Shaw in the last eight.

The other two semifinalists are teams skipped by Heather Thomas (New Plymouth) and Pauline Davy (Opunake).

Thomas is combining with Jopie Half and the 2008 winner, Val Fleming. They secured their spot with a 24-16 win over Karen Wallace, Angela Debique and Julie Hemahema (Opunake).

Davy presents a likely-looking line-up, with Rita Davey and Chris Commane. They were emphatic 24-8 victors in the last eight over Hawera Park’s Ella Smailes, Pauline Kennedy and Kristin Stampa.

Meanwhile, two West End sides will meet in one of the semifinals in the Andersons Pies-sponsored Taranaki men’s open triples at Stratford-Avon on March 5.

Those teams are headed by Garry Murfitt and Paul Darbyshire. Both upstaged more illustrious clubmates during the post section rounds on Sunday.

Murfitt’s side of Bruce Colgan and Darren Scott won its quarterfinal 19-6 over New Plymouth’s Peter Robertson. That followed a 21-16 win over Dean Elgar’s champion 2021 West End side in the previous round.

Darbyshire and his side of Steve Temperton and Bruce Hall turned on an impressive showing in beating West End’s Craig De Faria 26-13 in the last eight.

The other semifinal will be between Paritutu’s Don Christensen, Hamish Kape and Darren Goodin against the Anderson brothers from Tower – Brendan, Grant and Mark.

Goodin’s side won 18-12 over Paddy Deegan (Opunake) in the quarterfinals, while the Andersons prevailed 24-16 against Pat Walklin (Oakura).

Heavy rain has flooded both the Fitzroy and Stratford-Avon greens. There will be slightly delayed starts at both venues. Please note the following report times:

Abraham’s-sponsored Taranaki women’s Open triples at Fitzroy – all teams to report at 10am.

Andersons Pies-sponsored Taranaki men’s Open triples at Stratford-Avon – those teams due to start at 9am now report at 9.30am, those teams due to report at 11.30am now report at 12 high noon.

These revised report times are on the basis of no further heavy rain. The forecast suggests that the worst of the weather is now passed. Should there be further heavy rain, then announcements will be made as required.