Arrowtown claims title in seesaw match

IF you drop an eight in bowls, there is every chance of a loss, but remarkably it did not stop the Arrowtown men’s team winning the Central Otago centre fours title at Alexandra at the weekend.

The Arrowtown team of Alan Brash, Bob Howitt, Peter Bain and Wayne Patterson were comfortably ahead 101 in the final against the highly fancied Alexandra team of Pat Houlahan, Marty Geary, Ewan Kirk and Roger O’Brien when Houlahan’s team claimed the maximum, just one metre covering all eight of their bowls.

Arrowtown rebounded dramatically to claim four shots themselves on the next end.

The drama had not finished. With Arrowtown ahead 1915, Houlahan and his No 3 Geary killed the final end four times. However, the fifth attempt to kill it shot the jack into the ditch. Arrowtown played to it to clinch the victory 2015, having gone through the weekend undefeated.

Brash was outstanding in the final, several times drawing inch perfect shots to frustrate Alexandra and give him his sixth centre title.

The allconquering Queenstown women retained their centre fours title, achieving it without its highly decorated skip Margaret O’Connor, whose husband Michael, a dedicated bowler himself, had died a few days before.

Christine Buchanan took over the leadership and produced countless telling shots to claim her 30th centre title against archrival Alexandra.