Report National Champ of Champ Fours – August 2024

Riverhead’s Steve Cox, Grant Goodwin, Duane McDonald and Lindsay Gilmore, North Harbour’s men’s representatives at the weekend’s national champion of champions fours in Auckland, produced a superb effort, only to be beaten in the semi-finals.  They were the top qualifiers with four wins and continued their fine form in post-section, until undone but only by 10-8 by a Pukekohe four which contained Jason Parker, who has appeared occasionally in recent seasons at Takapuna.  Indeed, he won a centre title in Takapuna colours during the 2023-24 season, the championship pairs with Simon Poppleton.

Pukekohe, with Parker at two playing the crucial bowl to draw shot on the last end, then beat Taranaki’s Hawera 13-12 in the final.

In the women’s event Harbour’s representatives, Gaye Horne, Judi Farkash, Glenda Rountree and Rosemary Nicol, from Mairangi Bay, didn’t fare quite so well, winning only one of their four qualifying matches and so missing the play-offs.  But they did come across some strong opposition, losing in the first round 17-10 to a Waikato combination from the Hinuera club, which included several women with multiple centre and even national titles, Karen de Jongh, Bev Corbett and Debbie White.  In the second round they then encountered a Nelson four containing two of New Zealand’s greatest women’s players, former world champions, Jo Edwards and Val Smith, losing 19-9, and in the third going down 18-10 to eventual winners, Northland’s Kensington.

Surprisingly, despite the presence of these two champions, Nelson was ousted in the quarter-finals, beaten by Bay of Plenty’s Ngongotaha.
In the final Kensington beat Dunedin’s North East Valley 13-9.