Emotional victory on home soil

Victories don’t come much more emotional than this.

When Lawrence McCormick, wearing a black armband, won with Vertigo at Ashburton on Tuesday afternoon it was a poignant and overwhelming moment for the Mid Canterbury trainer-driver.

Moved to tears, McCormick looked to the skies and made a salute, dedicating the victory to three-year-old Effie Hurley, who had died just days earlier.

Effie’s parents Shaun and Symone Hurley and their family are close to the McCormicks.

“We’d all been camping together at Cromwell over the New Year.”

“He’s one of my best mates,” McCormick says of Shaun, “we played rugby together and have known each other forever.”

“Just days ago the kids were playing dolls together.”

McCormick says the death is unexplained after a medical event earlier this month. To everyone it is still very raw.

“I knew they (the Hurley family) would be watching it (the race) on TV at home - it was so special.”

McCormick felt he had a great chance after Vertigo began like a bullet and then took the trail.

“I knew she’d be tough to beat from there because she has such high speed.”

And win she did, by five lengths, w ith McCormick visibly moved as he returned to the birdcage.

Commentator Justin Evans was clearly affected too as he described the concluding stages of the race. “Lawrence McCormick with a little angel called Effie on his shoulder wins, well done, it’s an emotional victory – it’s as special as it gets.”

It was Vertigo’s third win in 27 starts.

But it was so much more than that.

It was also a day of doubles for the McCormick family with Lawrence’s father, David also tasting success earlier in the day

Ashburton gallops

with Maui.

After some below-par form over recent months the son of Peak, who sired all four trotting winners on the card, looked right back to his best winning impressively.

The win continued a fond association

M8

with Ashburton for Maui.

He’s raced on the home track on six occasions now for three wins, a third and two fourths.

Tuesday’s win was the seventh of his career and came at start 50.

Blenheim harness

Boy Ben Hope

73312 Ginas Majesty I R Cameron x0000 Make My Day

Gill Matt Markham’s Blenheim Selections Race 1: Didjabringthebubbles, Bevron, Easy McCartney, Rose Isle

Race 2: Bad Hombre, Cougar Express, Montoya, Archie

Race 3: Kilauea, Franco Tim, So Rock Around, Oh My Love

Race 4: Speciale Uno, Tane JJ, Buddy Reign, Manzini

Race 5: Excuse My French, Heston Hall, Sioux Princess, Franco Josiah

Race 6: Songbird, Ultimate Bird, He’s Santas Excuse, Beyond A Shadow

Race 7: Tremendous Lover, Razor’s Edge, Stanley’s Rule, Rocknroll Diva

Race 8: First Class, Sargent Best, Kowhai Shadow, J R Bromac

Race 9: Poetry In Motion, Morries Girl, I’m Your Huckleberry, Georgie Zukov

Race 10: Get Up N Dance, Artatac, Homebush Lad, Dashing Major

Race 11: Buffy Northstains, Sods Law, Ginas Majesty, Rush

BEST BET: First Class (Race 8)

VALUE: Speciale Uno (Race 4)

Ashburton Bowling Club

Before the Christmas break, Ashburton Club bowlers featured well in the Friday Triples at Allenton on the 16th December. Those successful were: 1st: D Kinvig, D Prendergast, P Quinn with 3 wins, 3rd: R McGarry, L Spargo, H Goodall with 2.5 wins, 4th: M Hill, P Collins, T Pearce with 2.5 wins. Well done all!

Our 2023 campaign began with the Inhouse Murray Grey triples at 5.30pm on the 9th January and was played on a lovely evening. The placing were as follows: 1st: T Blain, W Lee, M Watson –

2 wins, 10 ends, 2nd: K Walker, R Keeling

– 2 wins, 9 ends, 3rd: G Taylor, P Quinn, A Gibbs – 1 win, 10 ends.

Our first home Friday triples of 2023, sponsors Toyota & Skip 2 it, was played on the 13th January.

The placings are:

1st: M Quinn, G Dowie, W Watson – 3 wins, 17 ends, 29 points, 2nd: A Miller, M Grice, B Ewing – 3 wins, 14 ends, 29 points, 3rd: G Bishop, J Ford, B Molloy – 2 wins, 16 ends, 27 points, 4th: L Kearns, J Bell, D Bell – 2 wins, 15 ends, 27 points, 5th: G Taylor, C Leech, R Keeling – 2 wins, 15 ends, 26 points, 6th: M Hill, P Collins, T Pearce – 2 wins, 15 ends, 21 points. And at our first 2023 Saturday rollover triples on the 14th January, a small group assembled. The winners were T Blain, A Gibbs, T Watson, W Lee with 3 wins and 12 ends. So, a very happy New Year everyone and good bowling to you all!

Ashburton Bridge Club

Many bridge hands are played in part contracts which means that from the bidding sequence the partnership realises that they do not have enough points to bid to a game contract.

A successful game contract generates a much better score, but an unsuccessful game contract can gift the opposition a positive score that they possibly should not get.

This deal from Summer Bridge is a good example of a part contract.

Dealer, East will open 1 N.T. with 13 points and South, with a very distributional hand will overcall 2 Diamonds that could well be the final contract, but some Easts may compete with 2 Spades pushing South to 3 Diamonds.

The two options for West’s opening lead are a Spade or a Club. If a Club is led South will get a Club ruff at trick 2 and must immediately look to get to dummy with a Spade finesse, which will lose to East’s K. East can now switch to a Heart or play another Club.

Playing a Heart will give West his Heart

A, and his best return is another Club, as a Heart will set up dummy’s 10 of Hearts.

When South finally gets to dummy he will lead the Diamond J, and East, to promote his 10, will rise with the Dia-

Ashburton Weather

Midnight Thursday

mond K, forcing South to play his A. Whatever follows from this point Declarer, South, is able to make only eight tricks and is one short of his contract. Should E/W have found and continued with their spade fit, they can make: 9 tricks – 140 score!

Ashburton Golf Club

A big field of over a hundred players, took to the Brandon track on Saturday, most of them were trying their best to get into the final of the Property Brokers shootout.

Well, when the dust settled a few had flown in from the back of beyond, others dropped out of reckoning and a few more just jostled for better position.

Top player of the day was Wendy Hopwood with a super 43 points, just pipping Pete Morrison on 42.

These two wonderful people were not in the shootout where the big mover was Hilary Lovett, she followed last week’s 42 points with another one this week. That gives her top seeding and the favourites tag for the shootout and also sees her pick up the summer stableford trophy.

The biggest jump in the shootout standings was David Rush, he shot a great 40 pointer which moved him from 30th spot right up to 4th and we also saw Alan White with 41 and Tuffy Sa with 38 catapult themselves into the final.

The full list is: Hilary, Matt Fallaver, Henry Lawrence, Rushie, Ryan Stoddart, Craig Bain, Captain Tom, Olly Davo, Kenny Clucas, Blair Snowball, Bruce Day, Alan, Tuffy, John Ramsey, Rob Coyle, Chris

Lovelock, Shane Beaven, Tim Newton and Sheryl Reid.

A form guide for these wonderful people should be out by now, on the website or hard copies around the club. We will have the auction after golf on Saturday and then the final is Sunday week. It should be another cracker.

This Saturday we have club opening day with a pairs ambrose. Mixed pairs playing for the AC Browne Cup and men’s pairs going for the Smith Salver.

Mixed days are always great fun, especially on opening day so get yourself down to the club and join in.

News from the top is that the Harvey Norman classic has got a full field yet again. Any enquiries now will be put into a waiting list in case of withdrawals. The club are looking out for prizes to bolster the raffle table, so if you can help out with a nice gift or a little bottle of something just drop it off at the clubrooms please.

That will do, good golfing.

Creative Fibre

A warm welcome was given to the large crowd and visitors of the Creative Fibre meeting that was held at The Plains Museum. It was a noisy welcome as the members caught up with each other after the holiday break.

Some members had welcomed new babies while one member reported that her son-in-law has been awarded Companion of the Bath by Queen Elizabeth II before she passed and the Investiture is to take place near the end of January 2023 in the UK.

Thursday: Morning low cloud clearing and becoming fine. Northeasterlies, fresh in the afternoon.

Canterbury Plains

Thursday: Morning low cloud clearing and becoming fine. A few spots of drizzle in the south. Northeasterlies, fresh in the afternoon.

Friday: Fine with northwesterlies, then cloud and showers spreading north in the afternoon and evening with a fresh southerly change.

Saturday: Showers. Easterlies.

A subtropical low and associated front affect the northeast of the North Island. A ridge remains over the South Island, however fronts are approaching the country from the southwest. A cold front moves up the South Island on Friday, weakening as it reaches the lower North Island. Meanwhile a high pressure system builds over the country from the west. Another cold front arrives over the lower South Island on Sunday.

Around The Region

The Christmas dinner was held in December as members had time to relax and ‘catch up’ with others. The library has one new magazine and a waiting list for it while an older member donated two books to the library.

After the housekeeping was accommodated the eporter announced she would be retiring at the end of the year. An invitation from Positive Ageing to have a stand at their expo later in the year was accepted. It was also drawn to our attention that Rotary is planning to run ‘car boot sales’ at the West Street carpark on Sundays –an idea to get rid of excess stash?

Support for the sales table at our gatherings to assist with funds to run our club would be appreciated.

The chairperson welcomed a latecomer (Not her fault!) who has just arrived from Masterton where she was a very active member.

Show and Tell: A group of 10 teddy bears held a picnic on the show and tell table before being donated to Ranui House.

Several children’s knitted garments, some which were for Grandparents bringing up grandchildren and others for family, a beautiful dolls dress and knickers, 2 knitted/ felted bags and a pair of mitts also felted.

Another item was a woven rug in a McBeth tartan while another member had woven 10 scarves using a black warp thread. Another very excited member displayed a new electric spinning wheel – and some wool she had spun. Members were impressed with the size of the skeins. After lunch the weavers produced their looms and proceeded to weave and share ideas.

Sports Results

■ Bowls Allenton Bowling Club

On Saturday 14th January the Ron White Memorial Cup was played at the Allenton Club, results were as follows:

First: John Forde, Kelvyn O’Connor, Janice Bell 3 wins 16 ends 33 points,

Second: Bernie Osborne, Colleen McFarlane John Cudworth 2 wins 1 draw

12 ends 28 points, Third: Doug Thorne, Lindsay Kearns, Jan Suttie 2 wins 16 ends 32 Points.

Friday: Fine with NW, then cloud and showers developing late afternoon with a fresh S change.

Congratulations to the Allenton team of G Clarke, L Fickling, T Fickling, G Sparks who won the Doug Hood Memorial Fours contested at Methven Club on Sunday 15th.

Upcoming Events: Tuesday 17th Ladies Club Day morning, Allenton evening pairs 5.30pm, Wednesday 18th 2 Bowl Triples 12.30pm, Thursday 19th Club Day, Saturday 21st Club Day. Good Bowling Everyone

Canterbury High Country Readings to 4pm

Thursday

Mountain weather hazard: Thunderstorm.

Areas of morning valley fog, otherwise mainly fine. Isolated showers developing around midday, some possibly heavy and thundery in the afternoon and evening south of the Rakaia River. Wind at 1000m: Light.

Wind at 2000m: Light.

Freezing level: Above 3000m.

Friday Mountain weather hazards: None issued. Fine at first, then rain spreading north through the afternoon and evening.

Wind at 1000m: NW 50 km/h, changing light S through the afternoon and evening.

Wind at 2000m: NW 45 km/h, dying out through the afternoon.

Freezing level: Above 3000m.

Wednesday