Results Report – BNH Mixed 2-4-2 – 14th & 15th September 2024
Carlson Barnett and Jeni Hart added to Helensville’s great record in centre and even national events by winning Bowls North Harbour’s mixed pairs 2-4-2 championship at the weekend.
In Sunday’s final at the Takapuna club they beat the host club’s Chris Taylor and Jan Calcott, who also had an excellent tournament, 10-8. Barnett and Hart won $100 each for their win and as a worthy runner-up Taylor and Calcott won $75 each.
The win followed some top performances by both Helensville bowlers in the 2023-24 season. Carlson, who before joining Helensville had fashioned an enviable record in the Counties and Northland centres, was in the club’s winning championship triples and fours teams and so now has three Harbour titles. He also was the centre’s male bowler of the year last season and was in the mixed pairs final with another Helensville player, Sue Hart. This was Jeni’s first open title as she is still only a third-year player. However, she excelled in junior events in the past couple of seasons and comes from a strong bowling background. Her late father, Terry Cullen, was a Helensville stalwart, the club’s greenkeeper and a fine bowler who won four centre titles. A tall, elegant left hander, she seems destined to win many more honours, particularly as in the coming season she is to play regularly with former Black Jack Wendy Jensen, having also become a member of the Takapuna club.
Both finalists produced some grand efforts in progressing through both section play and in post-section.
Barnett and Hart had an epic battle in the semi-finals against Riverhead’s vastly experienced Steve Cox and Jeanine Browne, a newcomer to the Harbour from Auckland’s Carlton. The scheduled 12 ends ended in an 8-all deadlock and an extra end was needed for Barnett and Hart to win 9-8.
Taylor, a centre gold-star holder, and Calcott, not long out of junior ranks and with one open centre title, had a couple of top performances in post-section. In the quarter-finals they beat Takapuna club-mates Walter Howden and Connie Mathieson 13-8, then had another tough, fluctuating battle in the semi-final to beat Mairangi Bay’s Phil Chisholm and Colleen Rice 13-8. In the latter match the consistent draw bowls by Calcott was a crucial factor and there was considerable merit in the win over Howden and Mathieson.
In the preceding round-of-16 clash Howden and Mathieson had been imposing in ousting two of the favoured pairs, Bart Robertson and Elaine McClintock, two of the centre’s most decorated bowlers.
A feature of the championship was the promise shown by some of the centre’s newer bowlers. As well as Jeni Hart, others in only their second or third years in the game who made post-section play were Browns Bay’s Mark Brown and Jo Wyatt, Manly’s Douglas Hiku and Mairangi Bay’s Julie Chhour.
Centre life member, and eminent coach, Graham Dorreen, who has taken over the women’s one-to-five-year representative team, clearly has the material to build a strong squad later in the season.