New Zealand’s lawn bowls community has arrived in Central Otago for day one of the 2023 Summerset National Fours and Mixed Pairs tournament.
The event, last hosted in the region two years ago, was heavily impacted by Covid restrictions and was cancelled in Taranaki last year due to concerns of an outbreak.
A total of 13 clubs are hosting the tournament, from as far north as Wanaka to Roxburgh in the south, with Queenstown to the west and Waipiata, Ranfurly and Patearoa to east.
The headquarters is at the Alexandra Bowling Club, with excellent entry numbers compared to recent years, with about 800 competitors across both men’s and women’s competitions.
After the first day’s play, 11 women’s teams remained undefeated and required just one more victory to qualify for post section play. Team skips of these sides included Mandy Boyd, Wendy Mackie, Pam Stevens, Lynda Milne and Val Symes.
In the men’s draw, only 21 of the 122 teams remained undefeated after day one, including teams led by national singles champ Sheldon Bagrie-Howley of Gore, Gary Lawson, Graham Skellern, Lance Pascoe and Andrew Kelly.
Plenty of other strong combinations still had a high chance of qualifying, with teams requiring four wins over six games to make post section.
The day one feature match was hosted at Waipiata Bowls Club. The powerhouse line-up of Blackjack Mike Galloway and his side of David Clark, Martin Dixon and Jordan King faced off against newly capped Blackjack Lance Pascoe and his side of Kelvin Scott, Nathan Glasson and Rory Soden.
The battle was extremely close - a great reflection of the ability on the green - with Pascoe and his side eventually edging out Galloway 18-17.
Similarly in the women’s draw, it was a who’s-who clash in round 3 at Clyde Bowling Club, with Dale Rayner and her side of Kaaren Guilford, Reen Bellis and Linda Ralph coming up against Clare Hendra, Natarsha Grimshaw, Kirsty Hill and Kennie Critchlow.
Hendra, the recently crowned national pairs skip, was unable to overcome Rayner and her side, going down 20 shots to 13.
The final three rounds of section play will be completed throughout the region today, as teams chase the vital fourth win from 8.30am.
