Benefitz Centre Men’s Dick Bree Triples & Women’s Centre Singles

  • November 30, 2017

Two of the North Harbour’s most important events, the Dick Bree men’s triples championship and the women’s singles championship, will be decided this weekend.

Both of last season’s winners, the Browns Bay triple of Kerry Chapman, Scott Evans and Rory Soden, and Birkenhead’s Trish Croot, will be back to defend their titles, but in each case they will face formidable challenges.

The Chapman line-up is in a particularly tough section in Saturday’s qualifying section play at Sunnybrae. In their round-robin will be teams skipped by Steve Cox (Riverhead), Errol Koroi (Orewa) and Lionel Drew (Birkenhead). It is an extremely cut-throat field, with every one of the 12 players involved having been either centre champions or representatives.

Equally competitive will be some of the qualifying at Takapuna and Mairangi Bay.

In the same section at Takapuna are a powerful Orewa combination of David Eades, Kevin Robinson and Wayne Wrack and a Browns Bay line-up skipped by Black Jack international Tony Grantham, with Taylor Horn and Adam Haywood up front.

Browns Bay’s Brent Turner, one of the centre’s most decorated bowlers, will also be playing at Takapuna. His form is as good as ever, as demonstrated last weekend when he teamed with Chapman to win the centre pairs.

Three of the fancied contenders in the women’s singles, Croot, Lisa Parlane, winner of the pairs last weekend, and Elaine McClintock, will be involved in section qualifying play at Manly. They are in different sections, but will face competent opposition. In Parlane’s section, for instance, is Birkenhead’s Connie Mathieson, runner-up in the pairs last weekend, and Mairangi Bay’s promising Colleen Rice.

At Mairangi Bay two up and comers from Birkenhead, Adele Ineson and Jacqui Belcher, will clash, and also at the same venue will be their vastly experienced club-mate Ruth Lynch.

Post section play will be at Mairangi Bay on Sunday. The winning triples team collects $420, the runners-up $270 and the beaten semi-finalists, $90. The women’s champion receives $100 and the runner-up $50.