Her passion for the sport is so strong, Morel, who is a sprightly 80 years of age, was even reluctant to blame countless hours of practice and play for the discomfort.
“I don’t think it’s about bowling (the arthritis), it’s an old age thing,” she said, before one of her regular training sessions at the Elmwood Park Bowling Club.
Morel did cite one bowls-related irritant when revisiting a highlight of her illustrious career, a fourth national title, the pairs crown with Sandra Keith at Burnside earlier this month.
It took almost a decade for Morel and Keith, who bowls for the Allenton club in Ashburton, to play alongside each other at national level so the octogenarian was anxious not to let the side down.
“I hadn’t (played) lead for 20 years, I usually skip so I went down to the club virtually five days a week,” she said.
“I practiced throwing up the jack and leading two hours a day. I was quite sore after a couple of days of kicking bowls back (for the next end), I wasn’t used to that. When you’ve done that for five days it can be quite wearing on the old body.”
The exertion was worthwhile though as Morel and Keith capped an unbeaten campaign by comfortably beating 26-year-old Tayla Bruce and fellow Blackjack Clare Hendra 20-8 in the final.
“I wanted to have a game of pairs with Sandra. We’d played against each other a lot, we’ve played in rep teams but we’d never actually played together.”
Fortunately Keith’s other potential playing partners were marooned in Australia due to Covid-19.
“I rang her up and she said: ‘Yes Bev, it pays to be persistent’, it was just meant to be,” Morel said.
One of 18 siblings, Morel took up bowls at the Linwood club when she was 42, where she followed the lead of New Zealand international Marie Watson and transitioned from indoor bowls to outside.
“As soon as I did that, I didn’t want to play indoors any more, I was hooked,” she said.
Morel is not only Bowls New Zealand’s oldest champion, she has also claimed a record 37 Canterbury Centre titles, starting with a triumphant four in 1984.
“I just told myself I had to play the next one well, and I rolled a toucher so I redeemed myself,” she said.
While each national title is special, her success with sister Theresa Woodham at Dunedin’s Logan Park in 2007 was particularly treasured because their brother Brian succumbed to cancer during the tournament.
“That was a very emotional win. We went and saw him before we went and we knew he wasn’t going to last more than a few days.
“Brian told us to go and win the title. When he did pass we missed the funeral. We stayed and played, there was no other option but to win,” said Morel, who also shared the fours title with fellow Elmwood players Pam Phair and Lois Grey.
Bowls runs in the family to an extent, Morel’s father Alfred played, as did her late brother Brian and her eldest son Kevin. Her youngest sister Diane has started getting serious about the sport in her 70s.
“I had a personal trainer for 15 years but once Covid came I didn’t want to go back so we bought a treadmill. I normally do half an hour at a time and I have a massage every three weeks,” she said.
Morel, who prefers team formats over singles, and Keith pledged to defend their crown and the elder stateswoman has no plans to retire.
“I’m going to keep playing until I can’t walk and if I can’t play I’ll be coming to watch. I’ll have my walker (frame) with me,” Morel said, accentuating the social side of bowls.
“You play all day then can go in the clubhouse and have a couple of drinks and a laugh. It’s really great for people that are on their own. They’re always in good company, they’ll always know there’s someone to talk to.”
