BNH National Masters Update – by Lindsay Knight
After enduring one or two setbacks in recent seasons, especially in 2021 when a sudden Covid lockdown caused a cancellation of the tournament, Bowls North Harbour President, Maureen Taylor, is delighted to report that for the upcoming 2023 edition of the BNH National Masters there is a positive outlook
For the five-day event starting on February 13 a record entry is looming.
The hard work Maureen, Harbour Board Chair, Robyne Walker, and Board Member, Trish Croot, have put in organising the tournament appears to have paid off.
In mid-January there had been a total entry of 225, nearly half of which had come from centres outside North Harbour and Auckland.
As usual there has been good support from Central Otago headed by stalwarts like Trevor Drake and Linley O’Callaghan and there will be visiting bowlers from Southland, Northland, Wellington, Waikato and Bay of Plenty.
Biggest entries have come in the pairs. In the men’s 60-74 group there have been 45, in the women’s 60-74 group there have been 37 and in the mixed, 26.
One disappointment has been in the fours. The women’s 75 plus category has only seven teams and President Maureen believes that the future option might have to be triples. However, numbers may yet rise as single entries can still be made.
Browns Bay, having just hosted the nationals, will be the headquarters with support from a range of other Harbour clubs.
Senior Trust are the new sponsors and Bowls New Zealand will live stream finals day play.
