PPL Carnival Weekend – Lindsay Knight

Birkenhead’s consistent record at centre level was extended when one of the club’s teams secured the main prize in Bowls North Harbour’s inaugural PPL Carnival tournament at Browns Bay at the weekend.

 In section one, which was decided after Saturday’s qualifying, Birkenhead’s Stingers came out on top of two strong sides from the Takapuna and Orewa clubs.

 The winning Birkenhead Stingers line-up comprised the father-daughter combination of Peter and Millie Nathan, Mick Moodie and Martin Short and to complete a great day for the family Chad Nathan with Gary Wallace.

 For winning the Stingers won $300 for their club, with the Takapuna Gold team as runners-up collecting $250 for their club.

 In section two it was a quinella for Takapuna with its Royal team finishing first and its White team runner-up, swelling their club’s coffers by another $350.00.

 The winning Takapuna Royal team in section two was Brett O’Riley and Norm Scott-Morrison, Simon Poppleton and Wendy Jensen, Garry Banks and Anne Dorreen.

 Manly’s Men’s White team won section three’s first prize of $100 from Browns Bay Maroon which as runners-up received $90. The winning Manly team was Dennis Polkinghorne, Kevin Rainsford, Denham Furnell, John Buffery, Glen Collard and Andy  Dorrance.

 Brown’s Bay Gold team of Dave McMurchy, Brian Wilson, Margaret Oates, Pat Hutchings, JP Kritzinger and Hein Visser won section four, collecting $80, the same as runners-up, Helensville 1

 The quick-fire format of five end, two set, two bowl pairs made for cut-throat competition and there were several heart-breaking results in which luck played a huge role. There were also signs that some of the conditions, such as using the one power play available for each game, caused some mental readjustments.

 But for the most part the weekend was an outstanding success and thoroughly enjoyed by all the players. The event now seems destined to be a highlight of the centre’s future programmes.