Carolyn Crawford and Ann Muir achieved mission impossible when they won the women's pairs title on Saturday.
Crawford (St Clair) and Muir (Kensington, Whangarei) achieved the major upset of the New Zealand bowls championships when they beat the world champion pair of Val Smith and Jo Edwards (United, Nelson) 22-15.
''I can't believe it,'' Muir said.
''It's a dream come true for me.''
It was the second national title for Muir, who played a different role as lead in the Kensington club four that won the title in 2005.
''That was with a group of clubmates,'' Muir said.
''This time I was with someone who will always be very special for me.''
Muir is the first Bowls New Zealand president to win a national title when holding the top job. The Bowls New Zealand board gave her permission to play.
''I'm a bowler first and an administrator second,'' she said.
''My life has been teaching and bowls.''
She is a retired teacher from Pompallier Catholic College, in Whangarei.
The pair only came together because their original partners both had operations late last year and had to withdraw.
There was a vocal crowd of around 1200 watching the final at the Taieri Bowling Club but the pair were not distracted.
Muir admitted feeling nervous before the final but the nerves went after a talk to her coach, Peter Nicholson.
''He told me to think that I was just having a roll-up and within two ends the crowd won't be there,'' she said.
Muir defined the game plan for the final.
''We had to be patient and I had to play rescue shots when needed,'' she said.
There was a tricky wind blowing and Crawford and Muir handled it better than their opponents because they used heavier bowls.
''Our bowls were coming across the line in the wind, but their bowls were staying out that little bit,'' Muir said.
She played the big shots to get points when they were down on the head.
The decisive part of the game came on the 10th and 12th ends, when Crawford and Muir gained two five-pointers to lead 18-7.
The first came when Crawford had a toucher and second shot and Muir trailed the jack back for five.
On the 12th end Crawford drew two shots, Muir trailed the jack back and drew the bonus shot with her last bowl.
The world champions immediately came back with a five on the next end and reduced the gap to seven points.
''We weren't worried about that,'' Muir said.
''We had talked about it.''
Edwards was on fire at this stage and trailed the jack back for two on the 15th end. She
had three shots on the head when she drove out the shot bowl on the next end. Muir then drew second shot.
Skip Edwards was not happy.
''It was horrible out there,'' she said.
''The tricky wind brings teams closer together and there is a bit of a luck factor involved.
''There were times when the bowls straightened when you didn't want them to. When the bowl left your hand it was in the lap of the gods.
''I was very disappointed after all the hard work we put into make the final. We wanted to finish it off.''
Helen King (Victoria) has been playing bowls for 23 years and used her experience to beat youngster Tayla Bruce (Burnside) 21-14 to win her first national title in the women's singles.
A tricky cross-wind made conditions difficult on the green.
''There were a couple of times I thought I'd blown it,'' she said.
''I had options to win the game but the bowls fell short.
''Tayla was more nervous than me. I've had more experience playing at New Zealand championship level.''
It was a big occasion for Bruce (18) to play in the singles final in front of a large crowd.
She was nervous and took some time to get into the rhythm of the game. She was outclassed in the first half by the wily King, who led 14-3 after 11 ends.
Bruce has been playing bowls for six years and has won only one Canterbury open title.
King (49), the general manager of an importing company, has won 22 Wellington centre titles.
She played accurate draw bowls to accumulate early points and was not worried when Bruce came back at her by scoring seven shots from the 12th to the 18th ends to trail 18-10.
''No. My score was too high and she had to score more shots to catch me than I had to go out,'' King said.
''I was just thinking how I could get a bowl close to the jack.''
King was third equal in the 2010 pairs, in Wellington, and was runner-up behind Wynette McLachlan (Clinton) in the Pathways final.
