It is with sadness that we report the death of Mike Towart, a long-term member of the Otaki Pétanque club.
Mike was a frequent competitor on the Wellington scene and a regular member of the Otaki Inter-club and Jacques Cochonnet teams.
Our deepest sympathies are offered to Mike’s family.
WPA Champion of Champions - Triples
11 February 2017
Five clubs (Kapiti, Manawatu, Otaki, Upper Hutt and Wanganui East) took part in the Champion of Champions Triples at Otaki.
The Manawatu team of Ken Benn, Kevin Bryan and Ron Sandilands went through undefeated to claim the title. However, it was a close run thing. In round 3 they played Wanganui East (Trish Biddle-Amora, Pete Hamilton and Richard Turfrey) and won 13-12.
Seventeen teams took part in the WPA Regional Triples Championship at Horowhenua, an increase of four teams from 2016.
The weather forecast was a 90% chance of rain and thunderstorms. At the start of round 4, there were a couple of thunder claps, but the rain thankfully stayed away.
Saturday’s play was the traditional 5-round random draw to determine the team rankings.
Two teams went through the day undefeated: Sharon Cannon, Christine Strichen and Claire Wilson topped the rankings with Grant Bray, Ann Hogg and Annick Le Guen in second place. (Day One rankings)
The curse of the undefeated qualifiers struck again on Sunday. Sharon, Christine and Claire were unable to win a game all day. Likewise, Grant, Ann and Annick crashed out of the Trophy section in the morning. However, they did regroup in the afternoon to win the Trophy Consolation.
In the Trophy section, Morgan, Nico and Dirk were undefeated in reaching the Championship final were they faced the defending champions Myles, Pete and Michael.
Myles, Pete and Michael took an early lead, only to see Morgan, Nico and Dirk claw their way back and eventually win 13-7.