“What a ruthless spirit of great sporting competition…it’s tough out there !”
This was the abiding interpretation from two local sponsors recently watching golf croquet tournaments played at the Howick Croquet Club in Millhouse Drive.
Ryman Bruce McLaren Retirement Village sponsored two days of Level Singles over Saturday and Sunday January 8 and 9, and The Resthaven Funeral Home sponsored one day of Level Doubles on Tuesday (January 18), all played at Howick.
Both tournaments attracted high skills and close results which drew plenty of applause from the watching crowd.
Howick Croquet Club members provided refreshments for all participants, and the two sponsors provided prize money for all winners and runners-up.
The annual Ryman Bruce McLaren singles challenge (over Saturday January 8 and Sunday January 9) was divided into two groups on each day, with Green Group winner being Sabri Mullaalin (Mt Albert Croquet) with Roger Adamson (Howick Croquet) runner-up; White Group winner Roger Kennedy (Manurewa Croquet) with John Wood (Pakuranga Croquet) runner-up.
The Blue Group winner was Jill Groenestein (Howick Croquet) with Stuart Caulfield (Warkworth Croquet) runner-up.
And the Orange Group was an outright success for the home club as the winner was Raewyn Furness (Howick Croquet) with runner-up Jenny Fegan (Howick Croquet).
Resthaven Funeral Home sponsored the level doubles tournament on Tuesday (January 18) at Howick.
This tournament also needed to be divided into groups to accommodate the number of participants.
Results were:
White group winners Steven Field partnered with Rob Bawden (both Pakuranga Croquet), while runners-up were John Wood (Pakuranga Croquet) partnered with Pam Fisher (Leamington/Cambridge Croquet).
Blue group winners were Rae List partnered with Joan Jones (both from Howick Croquet) with runners-up Lauren Goodwin partnered with Jenny Fegan (both from Howick Croquet).
