Fours start matches under clear skies

The foul weather on Tuesday was a distant memory when the women's and men's fours bowls got under way at the NZ Masters Games yesterday.

The men were playing at the Castlecliff club while the women took to the Gonville Women's Bowling Club rink in Carlton Ave.

Composite mixes were the order of the day in the women's competition, with teams playing four games each one hour and 20 minutes long to decide the medal placings. And yesterday morning one of those matches pitted an Aramoho, Gonville Women's and Marton four against a quartet drawn from Putaruru, Tolaga Bay and Upper Hutt.

Francie Whale (Gonville Women's) was skipping a composite team drawing on the combined talent of Maxine Rowatt (Marton), Hilary Huwlyer (Gonville Women's) and Loralie Hawke (Aramoho).

Karen Hilleard (Putaruru) was leading a four that included her mother Isabel Branton (Upper Hutt), Noeline Henderson (Upper Hutt) and Ila Soames (Tolaga Bay).

Branton said this was her first time at the Masters Games while her daughter had competed when they were staged in Dunedin last year.

"We'll also team up for the pairs and Karen will be skip again too,"she said.

She said the rain that greeted them when they arrived in Wanganui on Tuesday caused some concerns but she was assured by locals the weather would come right.

"They said it would clear and they were right. It's a beautiful day now."

It's already been a worthwhile visit for Hilleard's partner Chris Soames who took out a gold medal in the mountain biking earlier in the week.