The Grove Orewa BNH Women’s Pairs and Men’s Singles Championships – by Lindsay Knight

David Payne, Elaine McClintock and Kerin Roberts gave the Mairangi Bay club many reasons to celebrate when two of North Harbour championships titles were decided at Browns Bay at the weekend.

Payne enhanced his standing as one of the centre’s foremost draw bowlers by impressively winning, for the second consecutive season, the Grove Orewa BNH men’s championship singles.

And McClintock, after enjoying a golden 2022-23 season, earned her second title for this season, by skipping Roberts to a win in the Grove Orewa women’s pairs final, with an 18-12 win over the experienced and much decorated Takapuna combination of Lisa Dickson and Lauren Mills.

In his final Payne beat one of the centre’s living legends, Browns Bay’s Colin Rogan 21-15, and not only gave himself a rare repeat success but a hat-trick of sorts.

For Rogan was the third of the renowned Browns Bay four Payne has beaten in the past two seasons in this championship. To win the title last season he beat Brian Wilson and in this season’s edition he won his quarter-final over Neil Fisher 21-13.   His other post-section win this season was in the semi-finals 21-13 over Walter Howden, previously with Takapuna and Orewa but now with Manly and who was seeking a fifth championship to give himself a gold star.  Rogan won his semifinal 21-13 over Takapuna’s Simon Poppleton, who in ousting club-mate Jerry Belcher and then in the quarter-finals Greg Newby, formerly of Northcote but now with Browns Bay, had looked to be in the same form of a fortnight ago when he won the centre pairs’ title.

The others in the quarter-finals were Warkworth’s Stewart Macdonald, who battled bravely against Rogan, and Birkenhead’s Adam Richardson, who went down to Howden, but for one not long out of junior ranks this, too, was a gallant effort.

There was also a meeting of titans in the round of 16 between Rogan and Helensville’s Bart Robertson, with Rogan winning sensationally by smashing the jack into the ditch for four shots on the final end.

In the women’s pairs McClintock’s regular playing partner Roberts also earned a personal milestone. Since starting as a promising junior at Hobsonville, Kerin has gone on to a distinguished record and the latest success was her 10th open centre title, giving her a bar to her gold star. Elaine now has 19 titles, one away from her fourth bar.  The McClintock-Roberts combination had its biggest fright in the quarter-finals against Birkenhead’s Millie Nathan and Connie Mathieson in which on one end Elaine and Kerin conceded a maximum six shots.  That put Millie and Connie back in the game after a slow start in what was a difficult wind. The teams came to the final 18th end 13-all, but on what was a loose end Elaine showed her class by drawing the only two shots close to the jack.

As well as the wins in the two championships Mairangi Bay was especially successful in the women’s pairs. For also in the final six were two other teams from the club, Irene Donaldson and Theresa Rogers and two juniors, Hanaan Shawan and Glenda Rountree, with Irene and Theresa beaten in the semifinals by Elaine and Kerin.

Dickson and Mill won their semi-final comfortably over Orewa’s ageless Elizabeth Ring and Val Taylor