The Anderson name has long been associated with award-winning pies but their record in bowls is equally impressive.
On Saturday, at Paritutu, Brendan Anderson became the fourth member of the dynasty to reach bowls glory when he claimed his gold star for five Taranaki titles as a member of the winning triples team in the TCM-sponsored champion-of-champions finals weekend.
Anderson combined with his brothers, Grant and Mark, to take out the title, posting an 18-11 victory in the decider over Inglewood’s Steve Sabine, Bernard O’Sullivan and Graham Reive. The Tower side led from the outset in the final, with Brendan joining Grant and Mark, plus father Brian, in the gold star ranks.
Brendan Anderson’s earlier successes have all come in champion-of-champions events, all of which were decided at Paritutu – the pairs (2016 and 2017), the junior singles (2017) and the fours (2019).
There was double delight for Tower, when on an adjacent rink on Saturday morning, Jane Augustine collected her fourth Taranaki title when her quartet claimed a four on the last end to pip Paritutu’s Cathy Andrews 13-12 in the decider.
It was a brilliant result for Augustine’s team of Geneva Barnard, Hazel Schwartfeger and Frances Busby, as they each claimed their first Taranaki titles.
Andrews’ team comprised Amanda Crehan, Marlene Barrowman and Barbara Batley.
Hawera Park’s Ella Smailes and Kristin Stampa completed a double when they firstly won the triples, with Pauline Kennedy, and then the pairs.
In the triples they defeated New Plymouth’s Liz Corbett, Colleen Day and Val Fleming 17-14, while in the pairs they posted a 19-15 win over Barrowman and Heather Johns (Paritutu).
Paritutu’s Darren Goodin underlined his class with an emphatic 21-4 win over Fitzroy’s Tony McAlevey in the senior men’s singles. In the women’s senior singles, Chris Commane (Opunake) make it back-to-back victories in the event when she beat Andrews 21-11.
The men’s fours resulted in a victory for the Opunake team of Daryl MacKenzie, Len Reader, Kewene Ratahi and Paddy Deegan. They won the final 16-9 over Oakura’s Don Hinton, Murray Crombie, Paul Coxhead and Steve Muller. Muller’s side had scored an upset 12-11 win over Paritutu’s Hamish Kape in the earlier semifinals, while Deegan’s quartet had accounted for Waitara’s John Ape-Esera 18-8.
Bowls Taranaki Executive Officer, Tina Atkinson-Watt (Lepperton), repeated the effort of her daughter, Briar, when she claimed the junior women’s singles title 21-9 over Debra Kalin (West End). Briar Atkinson won the same title in the previous season.
The men’s junior singles was a battle between two cousins, with Hohepa Murray (Vogeltown) getting the nod 21-17 over Levi Davis (Opunake).
* The last of the finals was completed on Sunday, with Sabine and Reive overturning their triples defeat to win the pairs. Reive’s skipping proved the difference in the finale, as he and Sabine edged out Vogeltown’s Nick Payne and Grant Hassall 16-15 on an extra end.