Former international Ken Walker (Fairfield) reached an important milestone when he became only the second bowler to win 30 Bowls Dunedin titles.
Walker achieved the feat when he and Andy McLean beat Joe Coleman and Brendan Hollander (Forbury Park) 25-7 in the final of the champion of champions pairs this week.
Terry Scott (North East Valley) is one title ahead of him on 31.
McLean (27), a third year bowler, won his second centre title. The Fairfield pair also won the open pairs earlier in the season.
Walker (61) was an eighth-year bowler when he beat Gordon Jolly (Leith) 21-6 in the champion of champions singles to win his first centre title at the lower Kaituna green in 1982.
That first title meant a lot to Walker, and gave him the confidence to mould an outstanding record in the sport and represent New Zealand at two World Bowls.
‘‘It was a relief to crack it,'' Walker said. ‘‘It gave me self belief and the confidence to play against the best.''
That first title was important for Walker. But at that time he did not contemplate going on to beat Jolly's tally of centre titles.
It was a major feat for Walker to reach 30 titles because Dunedin is a strong bowls centre and he had to beat several international bowlers to achieve this milestone.
The list sounds like a Who's Who of New Zealand bowls and includes players of the calibre of Kevin Darling, Ian Dickison, Paul Girdler, Terry Scott, Jin Scott and Ben King.
Walker could have won more centre titles, but over the past decade he has adopted a policy of grooming young bowlers from the Fairfield club in his teams.
He was thrilled by the form McLean, the operations manager for Otago Cricket, showed in winning two titles as a third year bowler.
The scores were level at 6-all in the final against Hollander and Coleman when McLean and Walker started to dominate the game, to score 19 points in a row.
The top female bowler in Dunedin is Gaynor Reid with 24 titles. Doreen Bell has 21.
The most centre titles won by bowlers in zone six are: Bett Prattley (South Canterbury) 31, Brian Papps (North Otago) 33, Bill Clements (Central Otago) 45, and Bill Barron (South Otago) 42.
