BNH Champion of Champion Pairs – report by Lindsay Knight
Elaine McClintock, having yet another vintage season, added to her many North Harbour centre successes when the champion of champion pairs titles were decided at the weekend.
Elaine teamed up with her Orewa club-mate Kerin Roberts, another steadily compiling an impressive record, to win Sunday’s final 26-7 from Manly’s Helen Briant and Robyn Henderson.
It completed a double for Elaine and Kerin together as earlier they had won the championship pairs and for Elaine it was a treble as last weekend she won the champion of champion singles.
She now has 17 centres titles in all and Kerin has gone to nine and within strike of a bar for her gold star.
In the semi-finals they beat Browns Bay’s Irene Donaldson and Judy Smith 13-7 and Helen and Robyn beat a strong Birkenhead duo, gold-star holder Trish Croot and Loz Croot 18-13.
Another with heaps of success at centre and national levels, Browns Bay’s Neil Fisher, who has gold stars in both Auckland and North Harbour, won the men’s pairs with Sean Mulholland. This was Sean’s third centre title, adding to those he won in the 2018-19 season.
In the final they won 22-8 over Milford’s Charlie McDonald and Robbie McGrane, who in making the final continued the fine form they had shown a few weeks ago in winning the pairs championship.
In the semi-finals they beat the solid Warkworth bowlers, Stuart Macdonald and Mike Beretta 19-12 while Fisher and Mulholland beat Mairangi Bay’s Steve McGregor and Tony Popplewell 18-13.
One pleasing aspect of the men’s competition was the fact bowlers like McDonald, Popplewell and Beretta played with distinction, as all are notable contributors away from the green as administrators both at club and centre levels.
Because of Sunday’s dreadful weather the finals were moved from Hobsonville to under the roof at Orewa.