Who’s who at the Amanzi Challenge
The Royal St Andrews Hotel 2019 Amanzi Challenge is gearing up to be one of the biggest watersport events on the South African calendar with hundreds of competitors and thousands of spectators expected to visit Port Alfred during the Easter period to participate or support their favourite athletes.
From international surfing and bodyboarding to a trail run, beach handball, a swim in the Kowie River, rubber ducks and much more, this is one holiday season event you will not want to miss.
The Royal St Andrews Hotel 2019 Amanzi Challenge will begin on Good Friday, April 19, with the Kowie Striders’ 8km trail run and continue through the weekend and the following weekend, concluding on Sunday April 28 with Inflatable boat (rubber duck) racing at East Beach.
This is the third year of the Amanzi Challenge. The main event sponsor is the Royal St Andrews Hotel, and owners Martin and Linda Bekker who committed to a sponsorship in prizes of R1m per year for five years at the end of the first year’s event.
The Amanzi Challenge is the name of the event and is organised by BS Sports, a company owned by Zwelimzima Nkwinti. His former partner in last year’s Amanzi Festival, Dave Lawson, has since left the company to pursue his family business, however Nkwinti and Lawson are still partners in the original event sponsors Uncinqa Enterprises.
The 8km trail run is organised by the Kowie Striders while the Marina Mile swim is organised by Sports n All.
The surfing event is held under the auspices of the World Surf League Town Classic and organised by Accelerate Sports. Bodyboarding is organised through SA Bodyboarding and its vice chairman, Clinton Millard. Rubber ducks are handled through Border Inflatable Boat Club. Beach handball is organised through SA Handball. Port Alfred Bowling Club
The week at our bowling club was very busy with lots of competitions, bowls and fun events.
Last Tuesday the Radue Trips was won Trevor Frost, Eddie Senar and Rory Mason-Jones. Well done to the three of you and thank you to Radue for your sponsorship.
On Wednesday afternoon the ladies’ singles was won by Julie Sliziuk and the men’s novice singles was won by Bulla Burger. Very well done to both of you and wishing you many more years of happy and successful bowling.
On Friday evening we had our monthly night bowls which is sponsored by Kekkel en Kraai so the lucky winners of the competition who each won a chicken were Trevor Frost, Wendy Heny, Judy Hunter and Shawn Schultz, assisted by Josh who played in the team for the last two ends. A bit of a loaded side but we’ll take the chickens anyway! Thank you to Kekkel en Kraai.
On Saturday afternoon the Wharf Street vouchers were won by a team who has also entered to play in the All Cape competition in Port Elizabeth starting on Sunday April 7. We wish them the best of luck and good bowling. They are Jane Armitage, Wendy Heny, Noeline Kirsten and Sue Purdon. We will hopefully have a celebration lunch at the Wharf on our return.
The wrong bias was won by Ben Niewwoudt who had to ring the bell and pay a fine to the potty.
John Bennett sadly passed away and we extend our deepest sympathies to Caroline and family. The memorial service will be held at our club on April 12.
Our GBS competition is on Sunday April 14. If you have not already entered your team please do so at your earliest convenience. Duties for the week ending April 9 – 13: Tabs - Chris Armitage and Helen Cowie, Bar Duty - Noeline Kirsten and John Hodges.
Kowie Bowling Club
A number of our new members have enquired about the roller/polisher (RP) which we use every time before we play. They were intrigued to see a driver sitting on a machine running sideways. Maybe it is time to set the record straight.
At the commencement of a game of bowls the texture of the surface should be uniform. As the game progresses the players walk up and down the centre portion of the rink compressing the grass so that, after about six to eight ends, the centre portion is flat while the “unused” edges of the rink have hardly been touched.
If the jack is moved to the side of the rink the draw on the outer side would be at least half a metre heavier than the draw on the inside where the players have already been walking.
The greenkeepers in Australia recognised this problem and devised a machine which could roll the whole rink flat as if players had already played on it (ie, the vertical leaves would lie flat on the green). After rolling the leaves stayed flat for about four hours.
By using a RP even the edges of the green would be running at the same speed as the centre.
The RP is a heavy machine but because it has four rollers the weight distribution is spread out. With a driver weighing about 70 – 80kg. the weight per square centimetre is only 0.7 – 0.8kg/sq cm compared with the weight distribution of a standard greens mower which is 2.1kg/sq cm.
The RP enables the greenkeeper to mow less frequently than he would need to if he did not have a RP. Without an RP the green would be mown five times per week. If he uses the RP before play he only needs to mow two to three times per week. Extensive tests done in Australia proved that the compaction index was lower at those clubs using a RP. Our RP at Kowie was the first to be built in the RSA and is now 22 years old.
Another feature of the machine is the way it, after some time, smooths out any little bumps on the green.
Last Tuesday we had a good turnout with some very tight games. The only team to break the mould was Gary Everton, Tessa Chanet and Dennis Wicks.
On Thursday we challenged Kenton for the President’s Chair. Our challenge was not successful so we will have to wait until next time. Anyway good fun was had by all with a sing-along afterwards to add to the enjoyment of the evening.
On Saturday we had a snowball. After not having a winner for some time three teams came up with the winning number – another roll-over.
Three men’s teams from Kowie, exuding optimism, set off for Port Elizabeth to take part in the Annual All Cape starting on Sunday. Unfortunately their optimism was short-lived when they immediately faced the reality of bowls at that level. In the six matches played by them they only managed to win one. Hoping for an improvement from Monday.
Our Ladies’ Open Singles is still continuing with the real drama coming on Saturday when Megan Kriel beat her mother Jackie
Duties: Roll – Tony Brown, Mark – Roy Reynolds/ Dean de Villiers, Tabs – Linda May, Bar – Dave Tyrell.
Kenton Bowling Club Last Thursday we once again locked horns with our friends from Kowie to compete for the President’s Chair.
This competition provides an opportunity for bowlers at all levels to compete against each other and has proven to be an extremely popular and keenly contested competition between the two clubs. We were very happy to defend the chair last week, winning 5 out of the six matches played. Many thanks to our hosts for a super afternoon and special thanks to Judy Alexander and Mike Ryan for providing the music for an evening of song and great entertainment.
The 2019 Men’s All Cape competition takes place in Port Elizabeth this week and we wish our Kenton team of Brian Aldag, Rob Bowker, Ivor Rule and Tony Phillips good bowling and good luck throughout the week.
Winston Trollope missed out on the weekly attendance draw of R600 last Friday. Remember Winston, you gotta be there to win!
Ken Bern got the chance to show us where the joker is hiding but became the second Ken in consecutive weeks to be disappointed. The Joker lives on, make sure you get down to the club this Friday evening to secure your chance to find the elusive fellow.
Thank you to Lynn and Dave West for your great bar service over the past week.
Saturday afternoon sees the monthly Social Saturday Tabs-in, make sure you are there if you really do “want your cake and eat it too!”
Club duties (April 1 - 7): Tabs - Pippa Swift, Bar - Anthony Coleman and Mike Palmer.
Dates to remember (April 1 - 7): 6th - Social Saturday Tabs-in bowls at Kenton.