Est 1943 - 2023

The North Harbour fours combination of Peter Clarke, Tony Rickerby, Tira Campbell and Gael Bagnall proved to be the giant killers at the three day Heartland Bank Harbour 20,000 held at Browns Bay over the weekend.

This years event, which is New Zealand’s richest any combination fours tournament with over $20,000 in prize money, once again attracted a capacity field of 48 teams (including a team from Queensland).

In the qualifying round on Friday and Saturday morning, the Clarke combination won 4 of their 5 games in their section, losing the other narrowly by 2 shots to book their place in the top 16 Championship event. And in post section, they won all their 4 games, clocking up 37 ends with a super consistent display of bowling across the whole team.

This proved enough to to take out the Heartland Bank Championship title and the $5,000 in prize money over the two other 4 winners, the David Eades combination of Kevin Robinson, Brian Haggar, and Wayne Wrack who were second with 34 ends, and last years defending champions of Peter Bellis, Tony Grantham, Lance Tasker and Randall Watkins who scored 32 ends over their four games.

An elated Tony Rickerby, who entered the winning team, said after the event that many of the opposition probably under rated their combination because they had two women and two men players.

“The fact that a few teams probably saw us as easy beats really spurred us along,” he said. “But both Gael and Tira led beautifully from the front – they set the benchmark - all I had to do was cover and Peter finish off where necessary.”

“It was probably one of the best fours combinations I have ever played in,” Rickerby added.

In the Lend Lease Plate, the all Takapuna combination of Chris Taylor, Trevor Ford, Bevan Smith and Walter Howden bagged the $600 first prize with 3 wins and 38 ends, while the Norm Feast Bowl ($240) was won by the all women combination of  Judith Seager, Rene Stratford, Gayle Melrose and Anne Dorreen who were the only 4 winners.

Full results from the tournament were:

Heart Bank Championship Event:
1st: Peter Clarke, 4 wins, 37 ends
2nd: David Eades, 4 wins, 34 ends
3rd: Peter Bellis, 4 wins 32 ends
4th: Ian Pyke, 3 wins, 39 ends
5th: Graham Skellern, 3 wins, 31 ends
6th: Peter Sain, 2 wins, 37 ends

 Lend Lease Plate Event:
1st: Chris Taylor, 3 wins, 38 ends
2nd: John Dunn, 3 wins, 34 ends, 44 shots against
3rd: Barry McCrystal, 3 wins, 34 ends, 47 shots against
4th: Steve Beel, 3 wins, 32 ends
5th: Barry Shaw, 3 wins, 27 ends
6th: Murray Mathieson, 3 wins, 26 ends

Norm Feast Bowl:
1st: Judith Seager, 4 wins (only 4 winner)
2nd:Garry Banks, 3 1/2 wins, 34 ends
3rd: Norm Feast, 3 1/2 wins, 33 ends
4th: Shaun Bayne, 3 wins, 36 ends
5th: Val Matthews, 3 wins, 32 ends
6th: Peter Orgias, 3 wins, 26 ends.