Oamaru bowler Annie McDonald (Awamoa) has taken over the family role of winning North Otago bowls titles while her husband catches fish.
Annie, who has played bowls for 14 years, won her fifth North Otago title and gold star this season.
Russell McDonald won 27 North Otago titles before he left the bowling green for the river to catch salmon.
Annie demonstrated her leading skills in the Dunedin Casino Classic Pairs at the North East Valley green yesterday when she was paired with Rachael McDowall (North East Valley).
They narrowly lost their first game to Karen Gordon (North East Valley) and Southland representative Sue Kincaid (Waikiwi) 13-12.
McDonald and McDowall made up for lost time with a convincing 29-5 win over Viv Forrester (Havelock) and Trish Marr (St Clair) in their second game.
They consolidated their position with a comfortable 23-11 win in their third game against Dunedin Sevens representative Malia Tavite (Forbury Park) and Mata Frankum (Waimate).
Barbara Walker (Fairfield) and Sue Hodges (Taieri) had three wins in their four games and share the lead in this section with Tavite and Frankum.
These teams meet in the fifth round this morning so this gives McDonald and McDowall the chance to qualify for the quarterfinals if they can win their fifth game.
The North East Valley pair of Sarah Scott and Michelle Fallow looked comfortable and cemented a place in the quarterfinals with three wins.
Scott, a fifth-year bowler, is the singles player in the Dunedin Sevens team for the national finals. She was an accurate lead and Fallow was able to add to the count.
Their most important win was against Lisa Hart (Blenheim) and two-times New Zealand open champion Margaret O'Connor (Queenstown) 15-8.
Pam Walker (Taieri) and Kay Hammond (North East Valley) also had three wins in the section.
The big disappointment of the day was Tanya Wheeler (Wellington) who skipped the runner-up four at the national championships.
She teamed with Liz Tomlins (Invercargill) and they won just one game.
Team-mate at the national championships Rebecca Jelley (North East Valley) and Vicki Robinson (North East Valley) also slipped out of contention with just one win.
Experienced Auckland representative Rae Hammond, the winner of six centre titles, teamed with last year's winner Christine Buchanan and had two wins and a draw in section four.
They beat Tomlins and Wheeler 19-11 in the first game and Jelley and Robinson 19-13.
South Otago gold star holder Avis Rishworth and former New Zealand champion Anne Bateman (Northland) had three wins and share top spot in section two with Bronwyn Stevens (Invercargill) and Jean Young (Taieri) with three wins.
