Queenstown's Margaret O'Connor has emerged as one of the best bowlers in Otago after top performances in the past two years.
O'Connor has proved herself on the national stage by winning the New Zealand Open in Auckland twice. In 2013, she won the triples with Christine Buchanan and Linley O'Callaghan, and she won the pairs with Buchanan in December.
''It was a shock the first time. I couldn't believe that it happened,'' she said.
''But to come back again and do it a second time felt great. It is a great competition.''
O'Connor has also performed on the domestic scene and has won 24 Central Otago titles. She added four last season.
The last event was the champion of champions triples with Buchanan and Debra Lloyd when they beat Marion Ross, Heather Turner and Theresa Gallagher (RSA) 17-12.
It was the 15th title for Buchanan and the eighth for Lloyd.
. . . and rise . . .
''I set little goals for myself each year,'' O'Connor said.
''Last season, I wanted to win an open title, and we did that. I won all the disciplines in our club competitions and I hadn't done that for a long time.''
O'Connor's interest in bowls started when she was a young girl in Gore following her father, Allan Garrick, to the local bowling club.
O'Connor and husband Michael did not start bowls until they shifted to Queenstown to run the Airport Cafe.
''We were talked into joining the Queenstown club 16 years ago and it was the best thing we ever did,'' she said.
O'Connor joined her mother to play small indoor bowls when she lived in Gore and has won two Central Otago indoor titles.
. . . of the O'Connors
Michael O'Connor won his only Central Otago title in the pairs with caricaturist John Parsons.
Parsons has now returned to Canada but he still paints the caricatures of the winners of the Speight's Invitation singles at North East Valley that are hung in the ''Corner of Fame'' at the club.
Over the past 10 years, the O'Connors have spent the three winter months on the Sunshine Coast of Australia. They play for the Maroochydore Bowling Club.
''It is great competition over there and we escape the winter,'' Margaret said.
''I enjoy the camaraderie in bowls. It is amazing. I get a lot of pleasure out of meeting new people at different bowls events.''
Age no barrier
The Maniototo sub-centre caters for the older bowlers. In the final of the women's triples the combined ages of the players was 410 years.
The title was won by the younger Ranfurly team of Linda Vercoe, Dolina Keenan and Maureen Kennett when they beat Patearoa's Donella Hore, Beryl Reid and Rae Paterson.
The combined age of the Ranfurly team was 155 years and the Patearoa team reached 255 years.
Hore (90), the grandmother of former All Black hooker Andrew Hore, was the oldest player.
From the North
Greg Smith (Phoenix) won his 19th North Otago title when he beat Sonny Brown (Awamoa) 21-10 in the champion of champions singles.
Clubmate Brenda Hope also won her 19th title when she beat Daphne Campbell (Meadowbank) 21-12 in the women's champion of champion singles.
In the women's champion of champions pairs, Maria McMahon and Annie McDonald (Awamoa) beat Aileen Blyth and Dorothy Breen (Meadowbank) 21-20. It was the sixth title for McDonald.
Singular achievement
Andrew McCallum (Andersons Bay) won his seventh centre title when he beat Duane White (Forbury Park) in the final of the Bowls Dunedin champion of champions singles 21-19.
White led 19-18 after 21 ends but McCallum scored three shots on the next end to win the title.
Cavvy kings
The Caversham team of Dean Hohaia, Bruce Carter and Darryl Angus beat Graeme Jeffery, Paul Nicholls and Wally Shaw (St Kilda) 18-9 to win the champion of champion triples.
It was the first senior title for the three bowlers and the first senior title by the Caversham club for 26 years.
The last Caversham title was won by Keith Murray and Kevin Darling in the champion of champions pairs in 1989.
That same year Darling won the champion of champions singles and Ruth Murray and Vera Andrews won the champion of champions women's pairs.
Darling, one of the most natural bowlers in New Zealand, won the New Zealand singles title in 1988 and represented New Zealand at World Bowls. He won nine Bowls Dunedin titles.
Marvellous Mornington
There was another significant milestone on Sunday when the Mornington combination of Patsy Hanna and Lesley Finn beat Jan McGill and Kathleen Harrington (Tainui) 19-16 to win the Dunedin women's champion of champions pairs.
It was the first senior title by a Mornington woman bowler since Annie Whale won her third champion of champions singles title in 1961. Whale was of Dunedin's best women bowlers in the 1950s and finished runner-up in the national championship singles.
Aye, Robbie
Robbie Thomson gained a second bar to his gold star when he won his 15th Bowls Dunedin title, and his first as skip, in the men's champion of champions pairs.
Thomson and Roger Barron beat Craig McCaw and Geoff Wilson (Kaikorai) 19-11. It was the second Dunedin title for Barron, who has also won 27 South Otago titles.
Lyn Rance (Green Island) beat Myra Herron (Mosgiel RSA) 21-8 to win the Bowls Dunedin veteran champion of champions women's singles.
Woman power
The New Zealand women dominated the transtasman tests in Christchurch, winning the open and development titles. New Zealand also won the overall development trophy.
The New Zealand women won two of the three tests to claim the trophy for the first time since 2011.
But the Australian men were too good and won the open men's and the men's development trophies. The overall open trophy was won by Australia.
And finally
Dunedin won the New Zealand men's sevens title for bowlers with under eight years' experience. Dunedin was third in the women's competition, won by Wellington.
