The Grove Orewa sponsored Centre Events, 18 & 19 Feb 2023 – report by Lindsay Knight

  • February 20, 2023

Mairangi Bay had double cause for celebration when two centre championships were decided at Birkenhead on Sunday.

 After Gaye Horne, Joy Watkinson and Theresa Rogers had won the women’s triple title, club-mate David Payne won the men’ singles title.

 In the women’s final the Horne-skipped triple beat Orewa’s Elizabeth Ring, Trish Higginson and Tira Cambell 21-11 and Payne beat Browns Bay’s Brian Wilson in the men’s final 21-16.

 The women’ win brought Rogers, one of North Harbour’s most consistent lady leads, to the verge of a bar to her gold star, a remarkable feat as she has been playing bowls for barely a decade.

 For Horne, still a junior player, it was her second open title adding to the champion of champions triples success in 2020-21 and followed a memorable national championships when she beat the Black Jack Tayla Bruce in section play.

 For Watkinson it was her first open title, though she enjoyed considerable success as a junior.
 

Gaye Horne, Joy Watkinson & Theresa Rogers – Winners BNH Women’s Championship Triples 2023 – sponsored by The Grove Orewa

 It was the second successive season in which Ring has made this final for last season she was again he losing skip, on that occasion to a Wendy Jensen-skipped Takapuna triple.

 It was another great effort on her part for she is now well into her 80s.

 In the semi-finals Mairangi Bay won a thriller over Birkenhead’s Trish Croot, Jamie Chen and Ling Ou 20-19 and Manly beat Browns Bay’s Irene Donaldson, Judy Smith and Dee Freeth 20-12.

 The men’s singles final was between two of the centre’s best draw bowlers, with the steady progress Payne has made in recent seasons rewarded with his first open centre title.  But he, too, showed promise when he began the game at the now defunct Glenfield club before moving to Mairangi Bay.

 To make the final he beat some strong opposition, Manly’s Kevin Rainsford in the opening post-section game, Riverhead’s Brendon Walton, a newcomer to the centre. in the quarter-finals and Orewa’s Matthew Higginson in the semi-finals.

David Payne, Men’s Singles Champion 2023 & Brian Wilson, Runner-up

 It was the second successive loss in this event by Wilson, whose eminence in Harbour bowls has been mainly due to his role as lead for the formidable Browns Bay four of Neil Fisher, John Walker and Colin Rogan.

 Last season he narrowly lost to the Helensville maestro, Bart Robertson. On Sunday he might have thought his singles frustrations might be over as he beat Robertson 21-16 in the semi-finals, having beaten another previous winner of this event, Birkenhead’s Peter Nathan 21-17 in the quarter-finals.

 Rogan was among several former title-holders who missed post-section play. He had the ill luck to be drawn in the same section as Robertson, losing their encounter 21-13. 

 Walton, though beaten by Payne, impressed earlier with a win over Brent Malcolm (Takapuna). Formerly with the famous New Plymouth club, Paritutu, Walton has moved to the Auckland region to take up a position with Bowls New Zealand.