Nic Tomsett found the perfect way to sign off from Bay bowls – winning back-to-back centre titles and qualifying for two national finals.

Tomsett skipped his Mount clubmate Steve Beel (pictured right) to win the champion of champions men’s pairs, and then Paul Anderson and Nathan Arlidge for victory in the champ of champs triples.

Tomsett has one more fixture – the champ of champs fours with the above three players on May 10 and 11 – before he drives south with his belongings to begin a new future in Nelson.

He is taking up a new accounting job in the South Island working with farmers and orchardists, and is looking at joining the Stoke club – “but I’m keen to have a look around first and take it slowly.”

He will be back up north playing the pairs national final at Frankton Junction Hamilton and the triples in Auckland in August.

Tomsett, playing for 15 years, was back to his best form in winning his 12^th and 13^th centre titles in the first weekend of the champion of champions events.

“It was cool to help Steve (Beel) get his 25^th centre title,” he said. The Mount pair beat Turangi’s Steve Wallace and Daniel Siddells 18-12 in the final at the Omokoroa club.

The match was tight with the score level at 6-all after eight ends and 12-all after 15. But the experience of Tomsett and Beel told when they picked up two singles and a four over the last three ends.

In the semi-finals, Tomsett and Beel beat the well-performed Tauranga pair of Dan Dickison and Alvin Gardiner 19-11; and Wallace and Siddells beat Papamoa’s Murray Huxtable and David Wallis 13-11.

Tomsett and Beel had another fine win over last season’s winners Athony Ouellet and Terry Leadbetter (Tauranga South) 19-6 in the quarter-finals.

Multiple centre winners and longtime pairing Wendy Green and Lynette McIntosh (Taupo) re-emerged to win the women's champ of champs pairs, beating Katikati’s Anne Mahon and Erica Mirando 18-15 in the final.

The Katikati pair held the lead at 6-3 and 12-9 after 13 ends before Green and McIntosh pounced with a four on the 14^th. It was again all tied up at 13-all after 15 ends, but the experienced Taupo combination finished off the tense match with a single and their second count of four shots.

It was McIntosh’s 20^th centre title. Green and McIntosh beat Ngongotaha’s Charlene Beckett and Janet Barnard 19-12 in the semi-finals, and Mahon and Mirando overcame Matua’s Dianne Campbell and Jean Morris 18-11.

Tomsett, Anderson and Arlidge ran away from Matua’s Phil Harris, John George and Ken Boyle in the final of the men’s triples. After being tied 4-all after four ends, the Mount trio picked up four singles and two twos over the next six ends to lead 12-4. They finished off the match with five shots on the last end to win 22-8.

Once again, Tomsett got the better of his representative team-mate Ouellet, playing with Leadbetter and Darryl Mackie, in the semi-finals and won 21-11. The Matua combination beat Arawa’s Graham Roughton, Barry Hannah and Andrew Eastcott 20-12 in the other semi-final.

Angela Stephen, winning her fifth centre title and Gold Star, Rachelle Morrison and Simone Stewart celebrated a home-green triumph in the triples – even more so at the ease of the victory.

The Omokoroa trio lost only one end after leading 6-0 and then collected a succession of three singles, a two, four and six shots to beat Te Puke’s Marilyn McLeod, Emma Barber and Judy Cooper 21-1.

In the semi-finals, Stephen beat Matua’s Dianne Campbell, Carol Hubert and Jean Morris 18-15, and McLeod upset Ngongotaha’s Leoni Renata, Charlene Beckett and Mina Paul 19-9.

Article added: Wednesday 16 April 2025