Bowls North Harbour’s Masters tournament received a welcome boost with the successful staging of the 2026 edition early last month.
The tournament, which caters for the game’s more mature players, has had a checkered history since its introduction six years ago, largely due to factors outside anyone’s control. The 2021 championship had to be abandoned at the eleventh hour because of a Covid pandemic lockdown that was disruptive and costly, especially for those from as far away as the South Island who had already arrived in Auckland. Then the 2022-23 version also had to be aborted, again at the last minute, because of the Anniversary weekend storms which struck Auckland.
Bowls North Harbour over the next few years has made a couple of adjustments to try to ensure the long-term future of the event. One has been to move it from an early February date, usually a very busy period in the bowls calendar, to early October. And this year the age qualifications were altered from 60-74 for the first category to 55-70, and from 75 upwards to 70 plus. Though starting qualification at 55 may seem a little too soon to classify anyone, especially bowlers, as veterans, the effect for the 2026 event has been a boost in entries.
For the latest Masters, there were 700 entries in the six categories: women’s, men’s and mixed pairs and fours in each age group. Most of these came from the top half of the North Island: Auckland, North Harbour, Northland, Counties-Manukau and Waikato centres, which might mean an end to any aspirations for the Masters to be truly a national championship.
But to compensate, the Masters has emerged as a worthwhile tournament with a competitive, but friendly environment for those seniors still in their bowling prime. Many this year had been centre or even national champions or finalists; the likes of Peter Sain, Wendy Jensen, Leeane Poulson, Robyne Walker and Elaine McClntock. Indicative of the high standard, none of these accomplished bowlers emerged with a title. Also missing out in the men’s 70 plus fours were the legendary Browns Bay combination of Colin Rogan, John Walker and Neil Fisher, who together aggregate well over 80 centre titles, and Fisher’s Auckland club-mate, Brian Chapman. They were ousted in the semi-finals by the eventual champions from the Waikato and Counties centres, Tony Gray, Mort Jones, Stephen Liddington and Frankie Lim.
The most success went to a duo from the Takapuna club, Adele Ineson and Connie Mathieson, who won the 70 plus women’s pairs, then made it a double in the fours with Keiko Kurohara and Jamie Chen. For Adele and Connie, their double success helped ease some painful memories from a previous final a couple of years ago. They appeared to be heading for a win when they accidentally removed bowls from a head before it had been completed. The mishap caused them to completely lose composure and concentration, and they were eventually beaten by Mairangi Bay’s Jan Gledhill and Colleen Rice.
The double success added to the excellent records of both Connie and Adele. Connie has a North Harbour gold star for winning five centre titles, while Adele is just one title short of that distinction. Both have been podium finishers in recent national championships, and in 2023 Adele beat a strong field, including Black Jacks, to win the Auckland premier singles.
