Lawn bowls: Te Atatu¯ beat the odds
A team of women bowlers from the Te Atatu¯ Bowling Club are Auckland champions.
The fours team of skip, Robyn Reihana, Marion Hakaraia, Allie Blucher and lead Diane Moore, the pairs team of skip, Liline Hewett and her lead, Avis Jones and singles player Mackenzie Blucher won Auckland Bowls’ interclub (sevens) title at the Howick Bowling Club on November 11.
And they rolled two of the favourites to do it. They whitewashed St Heliers Gold 3-0 (singles, 21-16; pairs, 22-16; fours, 12-11) in the semi finals before edging Carlton Cornwall 2-1 (21-10, 12-11, 8-16) in an absorbing final.
Blucher, 20, got the team off to a flying start with a 21-10 win in the singles. Hewett and Jones put the result beyond doubt with a knife-edge 12-11 win in the pairs. The fours lost 16-8 but the result didn’t matter since the title was already theirs.
Te Atatu¯ secretary Peter Blucher said she was ecstatic with the win. His 87-year-old mum Allie Blucher, who stepped in for an unavailable Lauren Mills on the final day, played three in the fours and his daughter Mackenzie, the baby of the team, played singles.
Grandma and granddaughter were the oldest and youngest at the tournament. Blucher said the win was a highlight for all involved.
‘‘To win the final against a team stacked with centre title holders, centre representatives and even a current Black-Jack team member was unexpected.
‘‘It is fair to say that Te Atatu¯ were the definite underdogs. Even just qualifying for the play-offs was a good result for the club.
‘‘That being said, they were optimistic going into the last day that they could win, as they were all in good form after the previous weekend.’’
This is the first open centre title that any of the players have won and Allie Blutcher won her first open centre title at the age of 85.
Mackenzie has represented New Zealand in tests against Australia at under-18 and New Zealand development level and was runner-up at the national under-21 singles championships last year.
Mackenzie, Reihana and Hakaraia have multiple Auckland junior titles between them and have also been winners at the Aotearoa Maori Bowls nationals. Hewett won a silver medal at the World Masters Games last year.