North Harbour bowlers win gold

North Harbour indoor bowlers returned from the Special Olympics national championships with gold.

Bowls was one of 10 codes in the nationwide event held in Palmerston North this month, with a total of 43 organisations sending teams to compete.

More than 1000 athletes, 400 coaches and managers and about 500 volunteers took part.

The indoor bowls was staged in three divisions of ability.

Because it was the first time Special Olympics North Harbour had entered into the indoor bowls, it chose to enter in the middle grade.

Roger Linford (skip), Phillip Ross, Sarah Nash and Shane Whorwood were selected to play as a team for the first day's fours with the group then split for pairs play.

After a shock 13-nil loss in their first game the fours recovered to eventually place fifth in their section.

Later the pairs team of Ross and Whorwood found the competition very competitive and although they failed to produce a win, ran one of the medal winners to a 6-7 loss.

The other combination of Linford and Nash suffered only one very close loss at 3-4 and did enough to bring home a gold medal.

The bowlers were managed by Jill Whorwood and coached by David and Pam Turner.