Rain cuts tournament short

Rain coats were donned as wet and windy conditions caused an early finish to the Mataura Licensing Trust bowls tournament last week.

The MLT Teacher’s Whisky Cup was played at the Gore Bowling Club.

Club member John Speden, of Gore, said the tournament had to finish early because of rain showers in the afternoon.

According to MetService records, 6.8mm of rain fell during the day, 4.4mm of which fell between 1pm and 7pm.

"We couldn’t do much about it, unfortunately," Mr Speden said.

"But it was still a good day all round."

Sixty-four players entered the tournament, making up 16 teams.

"We got a lot of top-class players here."

Players had come from Invercargill, Mataura, Edendale and Te Anau.

Because of the rain delay, each team only played four games, he said.

The winner of the tournament was the RSA Gore team of Jim McIntyre, Norman Broom, John King and Bruce Hellier.

Runner-up was the Gore Bowling Club team of Alan Muir, Daryl Scott, Ron Elder and Peter Morris.

Mr Speden wished the weather from the previous weekend had stuck around for the tournament.

"We were here playing on Saturday and it was perfect."

MetService recorded a temperature of 20.5°C in Gore that previous Saturday.

ben.andrews@theensign.co.nz