Congratulations to the following players who have been picked to represent Taranaki at the National Intercentre Finals.
Women:
Singles: Briar Atkinson
Pairs: Alethea Rowlands, Chris Commane (sk)
Fours: Lesley Te Awa, Tina Atkinson-Watt, Jackie Moeahu, Gale Fache (sk)
Selector: Don Christensen
Men:
Singles: Darren Goodin
Pairs: Aidan Zittersteijn, Dean Elgar (sk)
Fours: Bruce Colgan, Kurt Smith, Steve Walker, Craig De Faria (sk)
Selector: John Garrud, Manager: Bruce Hall
*Hamish Kape was not considered for selection
Good luck to all.
Lawn Bowls
Mike Walsh is the greenkeeper at Paritutu Bowling Club which will be the headquarters for the New Zealand championships for fours and mixed pairs from Thursday.
LISA BURD/STUFF
Every morning 80-year-old Mike Walsh hops on his bike and cycles 100 metres down the road to his second home, Paritutu Bowling Club.
Walsh is the New Plymouth-based club’s greenkeeper, a role he takes seriously, arriving at 6.30am each day.
“I watch all the games, I watch the people, I don’t like people ripping our green up with their shoes.
“I’ve made people change their shoes.”
Keeping the greens in tip-top shape is a job Mike Walsh takes seriously.
LISA BURD/STUFF
It’s been a busy month for Walsh as the club hosted the Taranaki Open Fours tournament in January and will be home to the National Fours and Mixed Pairs tournament starting Thursday.
It takes 2000 steps to mow the green and Walsh aims to have it at a speed of 17 seconds, which means it takes the ball 17 seconds to get from one side to the other.
Walsh, who won the Taranaki Open tournament with his team in 1993, waters the greens every night for 3 minutes, then the sprinklers are set for 12 minutes at 1am as that’s the coldest time of the night, and he fertilises them every three weeks.
“People see the green but don’t see the time that goes into it.”
The greens are normally mown three times a week, but come tournament time, they’re done every day.
Some days Mike Walsh is on the job until 10pm.
LISA BURD/STUFF
“We take a lot of pride in our greens and I’ve got 180 members to answer to.”
Walsh, who has no lawn of his own at home, said Paritutu Bowling Club is considered one of the best greens in the country.
His first stint at the club was in the 1990s. He then came back upon returning from Australia twelve years ago.
“The greens were shocking. The chap that was doing them asked for a hand and I said ‘as long as you do it my way’.”
Walsh has stepped back somewhat this year after having open heart surgery, but he still oversees everything the other keepers do, calling himself the greens superintendent.
LISA BURD/STUFF
Mike Walsh is a bowler himself and his team won the Taranaki Open tournament in 1993.
The time Walsh spends maintaining the green sees him there until 10pm some days.
When asked if he had a partner who may object to this kind of dedication away from home, Walsh proudly declared he’d been married for 61 years.
“She understands my commitment down here, she’s a bowler herself,” he said.
“The other greens she goes to aren’t up to the same standard, but not many are up to this standard.”
Article courtesy of www.stuff.co.nz – https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/350187241/paritutus-walsh-master-art-greenkeeping by Stephanie Ockhuysen, February 22, 2024
If you’ve only been around a short while in the sport of bowls (and a ‘short while’ can mean anything less than 20 years in lawn bowls!), you’d be forgiven for never having heard of ‘Kittyhawks’ … or even having any idea what ‘Kittyhawks’ are … other than perhaps a fan club of a veteran World War 2 aircraft or fanciers of a special falcon bird.
The Kittyhawk Bowling Club is a very informal bowls grouping that sits outside the conventional Club-Centre-National bowls hierarchy … like the Eagles Golfing Society does in golf or the Queen Street Cricket Club does in cricket or the Barbarians Rugby Club does in rugby.
It was formed back in 1977/1978 to promote the game of bowls, particularly among young people, and to raise money for charitable causes (in particular the Halberg Trust).
It was, and is, an invitation-only club, limited to 120 members, who characteristically are well-known for having given much to the sport of bowls over the years …. and are shamelessly willing to squeeze the wallets and Apple Pays of the well-healed, at the same time zealously and passionately encouraging bowls in the younger.
They are ‘worthy’ people. And ‘Kittyhawks’ may seem a secretive society, but it’s not. At bowls gatherings, members may be called to pop up from their seats like whack-a-moles at a carnival arcade. That may seem strange, but they are rarely feted. So when it happens, please applaud them for their wonderful efforts.
Unfortunately, after many years of running the Kittyhawk Under 21 Singles (a breeding ground for our young Blackjacks) the tournament stopped in 2018. For no particular reason … it became just like many other bowling tournaments that have waxed and waned over the years throughout the country …and the waxing was now replaced with waning.
Until 2024.
Brady Amer, the enthusiast behind youth bowls in the Wellington Centre, and a past participant in the Kittyhawks tourney from 2013 to 2017, decided that it was time for Kittyhawks to return.
“We approached the club about kickstarting the tournament, and they were of course thrilled. So earlier this year, we held the tournament at Naenae with a field of 28 Under 21 bowlers … the youngest was 13 and the oldest scraped in under the 21 year old cut.”
“It was a great re-start,” adds Brady. “So good that we’re already planning the tournament again next year at Naenae … but probably moving it to Easter when it was traditionally held.”
The tournament will once again be ‘mixed’, which is the way it first started in 1992. It was ‘separated’ in 2002, and separate boys’ and girls’ trophies handed out to the winners. But in a nod to our trending genderless sport, the former boys’ trophy is now handed out to the overall winner, and the girl’s trophy given over to best girl. It’s an acknowledgement of this transitional period of providing positive reinforcement to gender equality.
“Girls are often intimidated by the boys,” observes Brady. “I’m not saying ALL girls … I can think of some who that wouldn’t even begin to apply to … but we’ve found that most girls play more freely with other girls.”
“Back in the day, the tournament used to attract entries from 40 boys and 32 girls. What’s more, the winners received $1,000 prize money, a set of bowls, and the opportunity to play with a Blackjack. We want to get back to that sort of level of recognition.”
For this years’ winners : Camron Horo from Rahotu Bowling Club in Taranaki (overall winner) and Hannah Dawson from Pakuranga Bowling Club in Auckland (girls’ winner), the spoils were a little more modest : a trophy, a set of Taylor bowls and bowls bag, and of course, the prestige of winning.
And all participants enjoyed the food provided by Nulook Kapiti.
Who knows what could happen next year … particularly with a fired-up Brady Amer leading the charge.
Keep up the good work, Brady. And of course, the Kittyhawk Bowling Club.
Courtesy of Bowls New Zealand.
We wish our Revital Fertilisers Taranaki Representative teams all the best this weekend as they take on our frinedly rivals from the Lower North Island.
Follow the results with Bowls Whanganui and Bowls Wellington providing results.
Senior Men and Women: Results
Junior Men: Results
Junior Women: Results
Play starts Friday for the Seniors and Saturday for the Juniors. Good luck to all involved.
The February Field Day has been cancelled due to many greenkeepers wanting time for preparation of greens for the NZ Nationals.
Therefore, the next Greenkeepers Field Day will be held on Wednesday 12th March commencing 10am at Waitara (morning tea), Lepperton, Inglewood, Vogeltown, New Plymouth, West End (Lunch), Paritutu, Oakura.
We are expecting Andrew Mitchell (NZSTI), Paul Berry (Prebble Seeds), Trichel Stark (TS Hort), and Karin Crake (PGG Wrightson will hopefully be attending.
Discussion points during lunch:
- Taranaki Open greens
- Heat Stress on Greens
- New Product (Prebbles)
- Nematodes and treatment.
- General Business.
Please confirm your attendance with the Greenkeepers Association.
Players in the Crehan First year singles at Stratford-Avon on Saturday 3 February can note that the greens are clear of any water, and so are requested to attend for a 9am start as scheduled.
Congratulations to the following players who have been picked to represent Revital Fertilisers Taranaki in the upcoming fixtures at Whanganui and Wellington.
Senior Women:
Briar Atkinson (Singles),
Chris Commane (Pairs), Bridget Fletcher (skip)
Alethea Rowlands (lead), Alesha Quay, Irene Taunt (skip triples)
Amanda Crehan (lead ), Lesley Te-Awa, Tina Atkinson-Watt, Gale Fache (skip fours)
Manager: Don Christensen
Junior Women:
Angela De Bique (Singles)
Jill Forbes (lead), Julie Hemahema (skip pairs)
Shelley Clark ( lead), Judy Crawford, Linda Kape (skip triples)
Sheryle Taylor (lead), Gloria Wolfe, Janet Ravji, Rita Davey (skip fours)
Manager: Cindy Nicoll and John Sexton
Senior Men:
SINGLES: Darren Goodin
PAIRS: Hamish Kape Maurice Symes
TRIPLES: Steve Temperton Kurt Smith Aidan Zittersteijn
FOURS: Steve Sabine Bruce Colgan Steve Walker Craig DeFaria
Manager: Bruce Hall Selector: John Garrud
SINGLES: Evan Jones
PAIRS: Nathan Goodin Camron Horo
TRIPLES: Simon Rowe Rob Clark Corey Brookes
FOURS: Mark Hawken Craig Murray Luca Dobson Nigel Berry
Manager: Jimmy Quay Selector: John Garrud/Graham Rieve
by Grant Hassall
Sue Hodges’ Omokoroa quartet of Karen Pickering, Rachelle Morrison and Ruth Lynch have run out comfortable winners in the final of the 72nd Devon Hotel Taranaki women’s Open fours.
Hodges’ side defeated the Thames Coast team of Molly Galloway, Deborah Gainfort, Val Mathews and skip Kaye Bunn 30-15 in a rain-interrupted final.
The Omokoroa side settled into its work much quicker in the final, a four on the second end giving the side some confidence. That became even more pronounced on the 6th head when Hodges took a six when the Thames Valley quartet failed to get close and the Omokoroa side packed them in a perfect group down the centre line of the rink.
A three on the next to Hodges took the score to 15-4.
But Bunn replied with three successive singles, making it 15-7 after 10 ends at the morning tea adjournment. The margin could have been even greater, though.
Hodges held four shots on both the 9th and 10th ends, before superb Bunn bowls took the point.
A three on the 14th head to Bunn, as the drizzle became a little thicker, brought the score to 17-11. It was game on.
But the momentum movement went with Hodges. Her side took two fours in a row, plus a brace, to make it 27-11 after 17 ends.
It was at that junction, with the green starting to pool , that play was moved indoors.
Only singles were scored on the resumption, three to Hodges and two to Bunn, making it 30-13 after 22 ends.
Bunn then held a good five on the 23rd, before Hodges, with her last delivery, drew one just behind the jack. Bunn attacked, hitting a short bowl onto the counter, to give her side two. But with a differential of 15 and only two ends to make that up, Bunn conceded.
On the day there was no denying that the better side won. They placed more bowls around the head and that was ultimately reflected in the large counts which went their way. Three fours and a six were clearly the difference.
The victory for Hodges was even more sweeter given it contained Mother-and-daughter duo (Lynch and Morrison).
While there was natural disappointment for Bunn’s team, they took the defeat graciously. The gritty skip, who only returned to bowls four years ago, in fact won her 11th Thames Valley title in the open singles on the Sunday prior to the Taranaki tournament commencing. Bunn also won a Waikato champion-of-champions fours a generation ago.
Terry McAlary, of the Marlin Coast club just north of Carins, and Sue Brady, of the Pine Rivers club in Brisbane, have become the first holders of The Margaret Cole Trophy after they posted a nail-biting 22-18 victory in The Devon Hotel Taranaki women’s Open fours-pairs event at Paritutu yesterday.
There was much doubt in the result of the final, right up to the last bowl on the last end, after two junior players representing the Tower club in Hawera, Alethea Rowlands and Irene Taunt, staged a brilliant comeback in the final.
The Australian pair were in superb touch on Saturday and they continued that in the early stages of the final, despite the move back to the natural Maniototo surface.
They opened with a three and a five on the first two ends. Their domination continued to such an extent that after 13 ends, it had become 20-5.
That was when the run of Rowlands and Taunt commenced, just as the light drizzle began. Immediately, they took a three, followed by a four. Four successive singles were then added, before a two on the penultimate head, made the score 20-18. On the last end, Rowlands got handy with her first bowl. But McAlary bettered that. Brady added a second to secure the win.
Taranaki bowls legend, Margaret Cole, Black Jack number 20, was on hand to present the cup bearing her name, which was made possible through the generosity of Kevin Gray.
Here is the women’s newsletter for Day six of The Devon Hotel Open fours
To view the livestream of the final, go to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohqYspzpa_M