Close but no cigar
Oh, so close. Janet Swallow and her Taieri women's four stumbled at the last hurdle at the national club championships last month.
The team of Shona Robertson, Judy Robertson, Barbara Archer and Swallow was beaten in the final in Hamilton by the Omarunui Club of Hawke's Bay, 15-10.
Taieri had a chance to dominate the game when it held seven shots on the head in the second end before Omarunui skip Robyn Wallace drew the shot with her final bowl.
There was another telling play on the ninth of the 15 ends when Taieri dropped a five and was forced to play catch-up bowls after this.
It was the first time that a team from the Taieri club had reached the final at the national club championships.
Taieri beat the Queenstown four of Debra Lloyd, James Anderson, Christine Buchanan and Margaret O'Connor 22-4 in the semifinals.
It was the second time that Robertson had finished runner-up at a national championships. She was in the Taieri Composite team that lost the final at the open championships at Dunedin in 2014.
Swallow won the open championships fours in 1998 in the late Mata McEwan's composite four in Palmerston North and finished runner-up to the legendary Millie Khan (Matamata) in Dunedin four years later.
In 2001 she played for a New Zealand selection against the visiting Irish and Scottish teams.
Swallow was a novice bowler 20 years ago when she beat top Dunedin female bowler Gaynor Reid (Andersons Bay) in the singles to win her first Bowls Dunedin title. Reid won 24 Dunedin titles and her record was beaten only last season.
"I didn't know who Gaynor was or her record when I played the final,'' Swallow said.
"I just went out and played bowls.''
Swallow is a cousin of former New Zealand World Bowls representative Kevin Darling, who gave her a few tips in the early days.
Almost another title
Carolyn Crawford (St Clair) holds the Bowls Dunedin women's record with 25 titles. She won her New Zealand title in the open championship pairs with Ann Muir (Northland) in 2014, when they beat former world champions Val Smith and Jo Edwards (Nelson).
She almost gained another national title in last month's club pairs with Sharon McCaw but was beaten in the final by the Taradale (Hawke's Bay) pair of Louise Fitness and Jo Hayes 20-9.
The St Clair pair beat Jane Anderson and Margaret O'Connor (Queenstown) 15-11 in the quarterfinal and Pat Parker and Shirley Whyte (Timaru Town and Country) 20-13 in the semifinal.
Crawford lost her singles quarterfinal to Lindsay Nicholls (Coromandel) 25-13.
Alexandra top club
Alexandra was the best Otago men's club and reached two quarterfinals.
Trevor Ludlow and Bill Clements lost the pairs to Jack Giddy and David Jones (Taupo) 15-14.
They were joined in the triples by Trevor Drake and lost to a Blenheim team containing former internationals Matt Gallop and Maurice Symes 18-8.
The South Otago pair of Jamie Nichol and Bob Sanders (Stirling) lost the quarterfinal to Alan and John Dickson (Marton, Wanganui) 17-13.
Perhaps unprecedented
Veteran Ken Walker watched while bowls folklore was made in the Bowls Dunedin junior fours.
Forbury Park lead Alex McPherson trailed the jack to within 31cm of the ditch. Terry Clarkson (Green Island-Fairfield) drew a toucher with his second bowl and there were two more touchers before Don Sizemore (Green Island-Fairfield) pushed the jack into the ditch and lay just 11cm away with an unbeatable shot.
All five touchers were pushed into the ditch by other bowls and the worst one was just 91cm from the jack.
It is not unusual to have five touchers on the green but to have five touchers in the ditch is rare.
"I have played bowls for 42 years and have never witnessed anything like it,'' Walker said.
"The beauty of it all was that the players were inexperienced and did not know they were part of history.''
Title to Thomson, Dodds
The final event of the South Otago outdoor season was the champion of champions men's pairs, won by Balclutha's Blair Thomson and Brian Dodds. It was the ninth centre title for Thomson and the eighth for Dodds.
South Otago does not select a bowler of the year but the best performance of the season was Wynette McLachlan's feat of winning all her six games at the National Intercentre Sevens.
Coup for South Otago
South Otago indoor bowls, in its 60th jubilee year, is hosting the 39th annual South Island Indoor Bowls championships for the first time at the new Cross Recreation Centre during Queen's Birthday Weekend.
"We have not been able to host it in the past due to lack of a building large enough to cope with the numbers attending the event,'' the secretary of South Otago Indoor Bowls, Shona Preddy, said.
"We are excited to be able to host the champs.''
It is a big event with 115 pairs teams, 55 fours and 65 triples teams entered from Christchurch south.
The next big event on the South Otago programme is the six-team Women's Southern Regional Eights on May 21-22.
Doug Grant (Glenledi) beat Tony Cook (Hillend) 9-5 to win his first South Otago title in the open singles.
Lynne Porter (St Pat's) won the North Otago Heer Trophy singles tournament from Gordon Robb (Eveline).
Otago dominant
Mike Harte, Daniel French, Brandon Williams, Barry Cadogan, Callum Horwell, John Williams and Hugh Bosman won all their six games when Otago beat South Otago 174-50 in the first representative game of the indoor season in Dunedin.
Stephen Joyce had seven wins and a draw and was the only unbeaten Otago bowler when Canterbury beat Otago 140-112 in Christchurch.
The Otago regional mixed pairs and fours will be held in Alexandra on May 28-29. The national finals will be held in Lower Hutt on July 23-24.
Taieri on top
Taieri won the 25th annual Anzac Day bowls tournament organised by the Mosgiel RSA club with 17 points from Green Island 15, Mosgiel RSA 10 and Outram 8.
The most keenly fought event was the singles when three players, Geoff Griffith (Taieri), Edwin Harley (Mosgiel RSA) and Max Gray (Green Island), won their two games.
Diamond anniversary
Bruce Malcolm and his wife, Margaret, will celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary on June 12. Bruce, a New Zealand selector when the Black Jacks dominated World Bowls in Christchurch in 2008, won the New Zealand pairs title with the late Gordon Duggie in Christchurch in 1990.
Margaret is a former president of Bowls New Zealand and a life member of Bowls Dunedin.
Southern Region
Women's eights
OTAGO TEAMS
•Otago (Dunedin), A: Lyn Rance, Amanda Katipa, Stephanie Joyce,
•Raewyn Keighley. B: Ann Cottrell, Marilyn Holmes, Shirley Ruthven, Tracey van Tuel.
•South Otago, A: Eileen Cook, Kathryn Edgar, Biddy Craig, Sue Giles. B: Christine King, Alanna Preddy, Colleen Fenton, Marilyn Paterson.
•North Otago, A: Rhonda Lockerbie, Lynne Porter, Rhonda Sinclair, Nicky Shiferaw. B: Mavis Wederell, Daphne Campbell, Marie Guthrie, Lily Blakeley.
•Central Otago, A: Gloria Hurley, Ev Bisset, Theresa Gallagher, Faye McWilliam. B: Reay Allen, Helen Hillary, Liz Anderson, Sylvia McDermott.
•Venue: Cross Recreation Centre, Balclutha, May 21-22.
Milestones
Centre titles
•First indoor (small bowls) title: Doug Grant (South Otago).
