Steve Fleming added to his family's sporting heritage when he won his first Bowls Dunedin senior title at the weekend.
The Forbury team of lead Ray Marshall and skip Fleming beat the more fancied Taieri combination of Robbie Gibson and Dave Archer 12-11 in a cliffhanger at the Port Chalmers green to win the champion of champions pairs.
Fleming, the Caversham football coach, is part of a family dynasty that has been prominent in Otago football for the past 40 years.
It was started by his father, Bill Fleming, who was the flamboyant Otago coach in the 1970s.
The win was significant because Archer has won seven senior titles and Gibson has developed into one of Dunedin's best bowlers since entering senior ranks.
This was the first senior title for both Fleming and Marshall but both had performed well in junior events.
Fleming won the junior fours in 2003 while Marshall had been runner-up in the junior singles on two occasions.
Taieri held a 5-1 lead after five ends but, with 10 of the 18 ends completed, Forbury Park had come back for a slender 6-5 advantage.
It was still close after 15 of the 18 ends, with Taieri leading 9-8 and a two on the 16th end extended the lead to 11-8.
Forbury Park came back with a two on the 17th end and then tied the game 11-all on the final end.
The first extra end was burnt by Archer as he attempted to remove the winning Forbury Park shot.
On the replayed extra end, Taieri was again down on the head, and Archer elected to draw with his final bowl but it was wide, resulting in the narrowest of wins to Fleming and Marshall.
