Champ of champ pairs titles to Kahutia, Te Karaka

LAWN BOWLS

Kahutia and Te Karaka pairs won the Bowls Gisborne-East Coast Champion of Champions Pairs tournament for senior women and men at Kahutia Bowling Club.

Lucy Shanks (skip) and Glenys Whiteman of Kahutia beat Wairoa’s Glenda Kapene (s) and Jo Sturmey to win the women’s final, while Te Karaka pair Paddy Stewart (s) and John Dawson beat Tolaga Bay’s Vern Alder (s) and Mark Walker.

In the senior women’s first round, Wairoa Bowling Club’s Kapene and Sturmey beat Gisborne’s Carol Hawes (s) and Kym Brown, Poverty Bay’s Anita Vaotuua (s) and Cheryl Jenkins beat Kahutia’s Shanks and Whiteman, and Te Karaka’s Janet Baty (s) and Diane Murray beat Tolaga Bay’s Kay Goldsbury (s) and Sharon Olsen.

Kapene beat Vaotuua in the second round, then had a third-round bye.

Hawes beat Baty but then had a big loss to Shanks, so the Hawes-Brown combination lost both lives on the first day.

Shanks beat Goldsbury, and Vaotuua beat Baty, which meant the Baty-Murray combination were out.

The next day, two-lifers Kapene and Sturmey triumphed 15-12 in a close game against one-lifers Vaotuua and Jenkins.

In the potential final, Shanks and Whiteman beat Kapene and Sturmey 23-19.

That meant both teams had lost one life, so they had to play another round.

The final showcased some great bowls but the Kahutia duo of Shanks and Whiteman led comfortably throughout and won the game 17-11 to take the senior women’s champion of champions and centre pairs titles.

In the senior men’s first round, Kahutia’s Alastair Macpherson (s) and Ray Young beat Tolaga Bay’s Alder and Walker, Te Karaka’s Stewart and Dawson beat Wairoa’s Graham Fitzpatrick (s) and Vern Withey, and Gisborne’s Arthur Hawes (s) and Malcolm Trowell beat Poverty Bay’s father-and-son team John (s) and Gerry Kora.

In Round 2, Fitzpatrick beat Kora, which meant the Kora duo had lost both of their lives. Alder beat Hawes (23-19), and Macpherson beat Stewart so, with two lives still intact, the Macpherson-Young combination had a third-round bye.

In the third round, Alder beat Fitzpatrick, and Stewart beat Hawes (15-14), which meant the Fitzpatrick-Withey and Hawes-Trowell combinations had lost both of their lives.

The next day, Stewart had a 19-5 victory over Macpherson.

Alder then beat Macpherson 22-11, which meant the Kahutia pair of Macpherson and Young had lost both of their lives.

The final was a great battle between Stewart and Dawson of Te Karaka and Alder and Walker of Tolaga Bay. Stewart and Dawson opened a gap at the right time to win the game 19-15 and take the senior men’s champion of champions and centre pairs titles.

The women’s and men’s winning pairs qualified to compete in the national champion of champions pairs tournament, which will be held in Dunedin from July 7 to 9.