Alexandra bowler Linley O'Callaghan will not have sport on her mind when she visits Rotorua next week for the birth of her third grandchild.
Her daughter-in-law, Tineke, will give birth to her first child and O'Callaghan wants to be there to support both her and her son, Steven.
O'Callaghan will visit Rotorua again next month to play in the New Zealand Community Trust women's pairs and triples national finals.
O'Callaghan (52) started playing bowls in Dunedin 13 years ago and has won 15 Central Otago titles.
She has had success at national level and won a bronze medal in the New Zealand Community Trust mixed pairs with her partner Bill Clements.
She won the pairs with her Alexandra clubmate Imela Holdom on Thursday and they won the triples with Lyn Somerville in a closely fought contest at the Taieri club on Saturday.
Holdom, who was born in the Cook Islands, has lived in New Zealand for the past 33 years.
She started playing bowls nine years ago and has won five Central Otago titles.
Somerville (67) has played bowls for 11 years and has won eight Central Otago titles.
The Central Otago team won four of its five games, against North Otago 23-13, South Otago 15-11, Dunedin 19-16 and South Canterbury 28-10.
The only loss was to Southland 17-11.
Before the last round, three teams were on six competition points and had the chance to win.
Dunedin was in front with a differential of +22 followed by Central Otago with +14 and Southland +7.
Central Otago gave itself the best chance of winning with a big 28-10 win over South Canterbury in its final game.
The Dunedin team of Daphne Hynes, Trish Marr and Carolyn Crawford blew its chances by playing too many loose bowls and lost to North Otago 18-16.
Central Otago was rewarded for accurate draw bowls during the competition and won the contest with 8 points and a differential of +29.
It was followed by Southland on 8 (+8) and Dunedin on 6 (+20).
The Southland triples team of veteran Roy Walker, Graham Low and Paul McKinnell was unbeaten and won the men's event with 10 points from Central Otago 8 and Dunedin 6.
Southland beat Dunedin 18-12, Central Otago 20-14, South Canterbury 26-11, North Otago 16-12 and South Otago 27-10.
McKinnell (52) has been playing bowls for 20 years and has won eight Southland titles.
He finished runner-up in the national finals of the New Zealand Community Trust triples four years ago and has reached the last eight in the national championship singles.
McKinnell added the extra shots and played the rescue shots when needed.
Walker got the better of all his opponents with his lead bowls and Low played the positional shots to perfection.
