National Mixed 2-4-2 Champion of Champion – August 29th to 31st 2025

Nic Murrell and Eden Murrell-Manu, from Marlborough’s Picton club, gave a brilliant exhibition of draw bowls to win the final national champion of champions event at Tauranga at the weekend.

In Sunday’s final of the mixed pairs 2-4-2 championship they needed only 13 of the 14 ends to beat Paul Selby and Jane Selby Paterson, from Kapiti’s Otaki club, 16-8.

Takapuna’s Simon Poppleton and Keiko Kurohara, North Harbour’s entry in the event, had three close and competitive matches, but just missed out on making the play-offs.  In the first round in a tight contest they lost 7-8 to a Canterbury pair, the Belfast club’s Kerry Becks and Julie Adams. In the second round in a match live screened they had a 12-9 win over Jo Collis and Lindsay Banks, from Nelson’s Stoke Club.  But their chances of advancing ended on the second day’s opening match when in another tense contest they lost to Bay of Plenty’s Sue Hodges, a much-decorated player in the Dunedin and Bay of Plenty centres and at national levels, and her Omokoroa club partner, Glen Proctor 8-12.

As an indication of the tournament’s high standard, none of the accomplished combinations which Poppleton and Kurohara met qualified for post-section play.