Takapuna Bowling Club

Looking forward to Fun Day at the club today for family and friends

Glasgow confirmed as the hosts of the 2026 Commonwealth Games!👏

👀 Read the full announcement here | https://bit.ly/4e3GcoE

| Glasgow 2026

Great news for our sport to have confirmation of inclusion in the Commonwealth Games.

Huge credit to World Bowls for advocating strongly for Bowls to be one of the sports named today.

🔗 https://bowlsnewzealand.co.nz/bowls-new-zealand-welcomes-inclusion-of-bowls-and-para-bowls-in-commonwealth-games/

Awesome for our bowlers ⚫️👏🤩

Bowls to be included in 2026 Commonwealth Games    

The stamp of a champion sports performer is often his or her ability to overcome good opposition when one is not quite as one’s best.

Takapuna’s former Black Jack international Wendy Jensen showed some of this quality when skipping Steve Hoeft and Trish Hardy to a hard fought but meritorious 16-15 win in the club’s mixed championship triples at the weekend. By her own admission she struggled in the final against the Simon Poppleton-skipped triple of Jason Parker and Michelle Kean to find her line in conditions made difficult by a nasty north-easterly wind.

Indeed, after eight ends the Poppleton team was ahead 11-3 and with all three of its members playing with confidence and skill, especially Parker at two, which suggested an early finish to the 18-end game.

But then came a shift in momentum and in an intriguing battle between two accomplished twos, Parker and Hoeft, over the next five ends, Poppleton’s four remained scoreless as the Jensen four surged to a 12-11 lead. By taking advantage of shorter ends it was an edge that was maintained to the finish.

The win furthered an excellent record Wendy and Trish have had together at both club and centre levels over the past five or six seasons. Wendy has now joined an elite group who have won 10 or more club open championship titles and for Trish it was her eighth and as well, of course, playing with Wendy she has achieved a centre gold star.

Through the whole weekend she played with commendable consistency at lead belying the fact that for most of the 2023-24 season she played little competitive bowls. For Steve, who joined Takapuna last season after playing most of his bowls in Auckland with Point Chevalier, it was a second club title adding to the men’s triples won in 2023-24 with Jerry Belcher and Ian Hardy. On his weekend’s form he seems sure to add to that tally.

In the semi-finals Poppleton’s powerful accurate drives were a key factor in his team’s 18-12 win over Walter Howden, the in-form Murray Mathieson and Irene Costello, whose frustration may have been reflected in dropping crucial fours on the 12th and 14th ends. The Jensen four won the other semi-final, 18-13 over Ian McKenzie, Adele Ineson and Derek Brien.

In the quarter-finals Jensen’s triple won 22-15 over Jerry Belcher, Jacqui Belcher and Ian Hardy, with the latter clashing at lead with his better half, Trish, and Poppleton won 15-12 over Garry Banks, Jamie Chen and Bevyn Darlington.

And McKenzie’s ended the hopes of Lisa Dickson, Dennis Hale and Robyn Pittams, still a junior, 14-10 and last season’s winning team of Wynne Gray, Robyne Walker and Bevan Smith lost its chance of defending the Mathieson Trophy against the Howden team. Down 9-3 after even ends, Walter, Murray and Irene made a spectacular recovery to win nine of the last 10 ends to surge to a 20-13 win.

As well as Robyn Pittams’ feat in making the post-section rounds there was another encouraging effort by the Gamby father-daughter, Evan and Alicia, who with another new player Victor Santhiapillai, secured one win in the qualifying rounds.

Glenis Ryan, like Victor and Evan just entering her second season, also had a win with Gary Stevens and Graham Dorreen, and she also performed with distinction in helping Graham successfully organise and direct the tournament.

The hard luck team in missing post-section was that of Chris Taylor, Grant Keats and Jan Calcott, who suffered two narrow defeats in the qualifying rounds to firstly the Jerry Belcher team and then that of Lisa Dickson. Lisa showed her class to clinch the match by driving the jack into the ditch on the second-to-last end for three crucial shots.

A big thanks to all the club members who supported our players at the Metlifecare NZ Masters today - gold standard!

Murray Mathieson has achieved much in his sporting and bowls life but he would have enjoyed few more red-letter days than what he accomplished on the final day of Bowls North Harbour’s Metlifecare open Masters tournament.

Murray qualified for every final for which he was eligible, and won all three, the 75 + ,men’s fours, the 75 + men’s pairs and the 75 + mixed pairs.

It was an extraordinary feat, against some strong competition over five testing days, to remain unbeaten.

In the fours he helped skip Chris Taylor, Walter Howden and a former member of Takapuna, Leighton Bristol, defend the title they won last year. In the final they beat an Orewa four comfortably 14-6.

His wins in two pairs were a little more difficult, with the margin in each by just one short. But each win was a testimony to the determination and composure of his respective partners, Chris Taylor, who thus scored a double, and Geraldine Wight.

He and Geraldine beat a strong Northland combination of former Black and past national champion Ann Muir and Ian Bowick 9-8 in the mixed pairs final.

And in the men’s pairs final he and Chris came from behind to beat two prominent bowlers from Birkenhead and now Beach-haven, Sandy Carmichael and Roy Parker, 11-10.

The high standard of player in this event was illustrated in the semi-finals when Chris and Murray beat two former national champions, Petar Sain, a national gold star holder in fact, and Wally Marsic, from Auckland’s Carlton-Cornwall club.

And Carmichael and Parker beat two of North Harbour’s living legends, John Walker and Colin Rogan.

With his Masters’ treble Murray has added to what has been a remarkable record. In bowls, of course, he has won countless clubs titles, four centre titles and a national open triples. As a hockey player he was a Black Stick and went to the 1960 Rome Olympics and as an A grade squash player he won the national inter-club title with Wellington, Mitchell Park.

He was also a national inter-club bowls winner in 2007 with Takapuna so is one of the few who can boast national team club titles in two different sports.

Murray and Chris with his double were not the only Takapuna bowlers who emerged with distinction from this year’s Masters.

Wendy Jensen and Robyne Walker had a great win in the women’s 60-74 pairs, beating the much decorated duo of Elaine McClintock and Kerin Roberts in the final, 10-7. This followed an emphatic semi-final win over Takapuna club-mates, Adele Ineson and Connie Mathieson.

Adele did gain some consolation when with associate member Judi Farkash she was in the composite four skipped by national singles champion, Leanne Poulson, which won the 60-74 fours title, beating a composite four skipped by Elaine McClintock and which contained former club member, Maureen Howden.

And Megan Ratcliffe, Lyn Calver, Irene Costello and Jan Calcott were runners-up in the women’s 75 + fours, beaten by a Northland team which included Ann Muir, who like Murray also made three finals, but won only one. The Takapuna ladies did have the satisfaction of a good semi-final win over Mairangi Bay, which included Geraldine Wight.

Dennis Hale and his Japanese partner, Madori Matsauka, made the semi-finals of the 60-74 mixed pairs and in the 75 + mixed pairs Garry Banks and Terry Doonan and Dave Callaawy and Irene Costello narrowly missed qualifying.

Good luck to our players playing in the FINALS of the Metlifecare NZ Masters tomorrow:

Women-
60 to 74 Pairs - Robyne Walker & Wendy Jensen
60 to 74 Fours - Adele Ineson playing with Leeane Poulson (Papakura), Judi Farkash and Rosemary Nicol (Mairangi Bay)
75 + Fours - Jan Calcott, Irene Costello, Lyn Calver & Megan Ratcliffe

Men -
75 + Pairs - Murray Mathieson & Chris Taylor
75 + Fours - Leighton Bristol, Walter Howden, Murray Mathieson & Chris Taylor

Mixed -
75 + Pairs - Geraldine Wight & Murray Mathieson

Fantastic effort everyone to get to the finals and good luck Friday 11 October 2024 playing at Browns Bay Bowling Club. All support appreciated 😎🌑🌊

Metlifecare NZ Masters schedule of play for Friday 11 October 2024

QUAD SERIES SHOWDOWN! 💥
Best of luck to our Auckland Premier, Development, and 1-5 Year reps as they take on Bay of Plenty, Northland, and North Harbour this weekend! 🔥

📅 Saturday, 28 September:
👩‍🦰 1-5 Year Women @ Royal Oak Bowls
👨 1-5 Year Men @ New Lynn Bowling Club

📅 Sunday, 29 September:
👩 Development Women Remuera Bowling Club
👨‍🦳 Development Men @ New Lynn Bowling Club
👩‍🦳 Premier Women @ Royal Oak Bowls
👨 Premier Men @ Orewa Bowling Club

Kick-off is 9:30 am – come support our players and catch the action! 🏆💪

Check out all the results here: https://tinyurl.com/ye28fpe5

Congratulations on Selection and Good Luck this Weekend!

This weekend sees the start of the Bowls North Harbour Representative season so best of luck to the following players and management teams:

Saturday 28 September
Womens 1-5 Players - Robyn Pittams
Management - Graham Dorreen and Keiko Kurohara

Saturday 28 September
Mens 1-5 Management - Ian McKenzie Rep Convenor

Sunday 29 September
Mens Premier Open and Development - Jerry Belcher, Steve Hoeft and Brent Malcolm

Sunday 29 September
Womens Premier Open and Development - Jan Calcott, Keiko Kurohara, Adele Ineson, Wendy Jensen, Lauren Mills, Robyne Walker
Management Prem Development - Grant Keats

If you need to update your BowlsHub profile, follow this link:

https://form.jotform.com/232807943757872

Big shout out to all our active coaches at Takapuna Bowling Club including Jamie Chen, Graham Dorreen, Ian Hardy, Grant Keats, Keiko Kurohara and the many more experienced bowlers that assist when help is asked for. Proud of you all!

Every day, coaches give their time to make a difference in the lives of young Kiwis. Thank them for everything they do at thankscoach.co.nz

Sport New Zealand

Good luck to all our Women playing in the
Auckland Premier Singles
😃this weekend😃

Good luck to our Men playing in the
BNH Ivan Kostanich Open Singles
😃this weekend😃