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Like the endpoint of a winter sport increasingly encroaching on summer, the bridge playing season runs from early January to late December. This doesn't give us much of a break between seasons.

Local players, winding down from Interclub and the Christmas Cheer tournament (covered in my previous report) had a short break before the Suzanne Duncan Pairs between Xmas and the New Year. Then there was another very short break until the various club nights started up. I'm back into it already as the Gold Coast Congress is beckoning on Thursday. My partner pushed me for that extra practice that will turn me from chump to champ.

Suzanne Duncan Pairs

In the Suzanne Duncan Pairs, held on the evenings of 27th to 29th December, Peter Benham and Karl Hayes, averaging 60.97%, won from Kate Davies and John Patterson, and Lindsey Guy and Steve Gray. The new Wellington club president, Brad Tattersfield, finished his year by coming fourth with Kevin Walker.

Interclub 2017

Interclub is starting up with the invitation for team entries. Firstly, though, here are the winning teams from 2016:

( for full details, click here )

Open                     (8 teams)            Wellington 1 captained by Annette Henry

Open Restricted (12 teams)           Wellington 1 captained by Bridget Willcox

Intermediate       (20 teams)            Upper Hutt 1 captained by Graeme Dick

Junior                  (12 teams)            Kapi Mana   captained by Christine de Roo

Novice                 (6 teams)              Karori          captained by Pat McCarthy

The Novice winners, Pat McCarthy, Jeremy Gogan,Marcus Smith and Ed May

Congratulations to the winning teams, consolatory nods for the runners-up, and a keep striving message for all of us. Though the title is "Interclub", my own experience in Open Restricted suggests that the internal rivalry between the various teams from each club is no less than that with the other clubs. (Intraclub?) As a nod to the actual competition title, we could look at how the clubs performed in 2016. The very large Wellington Club nearly took all first four places in each of the Open and Open Restricted competitions. The Karori team stymied the clean sweep with its third placing in the Open grade.

Even so, it wasn't all one sided, and the other clubs shone in the other competitions. Upper Hutt teams were first and third in Intermediate, with Hutt and Victoria teams 2nd and 4th. Karori took out the Plate. In Junior, Kapi Mana, Kairangi, and Upper Hutt teams took the top three places in that order.

In Novice, Karori (photo below) won from Wellington, and these two teams joined in with the lower ranked Junior teams over the last three rounds. This made for some interesting bridge, won by the Wellington Novice team. To show that Interclub is not only for the big city teams, the South Wairarapa club won the Novice Plate competition.

Wellington Regional Congress in April

The Wellington Congress will take place over four days this year - from the weekend before Anzac Day through to Anzac Day (22-25th April). If you are from outside the region and haven't previously been to our Congress, have a good think about trying it out this year. The Congress Home Page is at http://www.wellingtonregionbridge.nz/congress-2017.html

We've altered the Open Teams to a two day event over the weekend, with no separate final. We are also hoping that the local Intermediate, Junior and Novice players will turn out in force to offer strong competition to any visitors in Pairs and Teams on those two days.

Waikanae Open

Thirty pairs turned out for this event on the 12th February, a good turnout considering the attractions of a major teams event down south. Isobel Ross and Derek Snelling were sitting NS7 (lucky seats?) for both sessions. Luck wasn't required, and their 70.9% in the second session took them ahead of Peter Delahunty and Lynda Rigler with two 60+ scores. Local Waikanae club players, Jeanne Wardill and Graham Cheater, came a convincing third.

Local Bridge Administration

The Regional Committee is preparing for a meeting with clubs towards the end of February. Phil Rutherford will be the NZ Bridge face at the meeting, and Jane Stearns will be presenting on "Rejuvenating a Bridge Club".

NZ Bridge

On the national front, Allan Morris and Stephen Henry ran one of their consultation sessions with local players on the 12th January. There was a good turnout of 20 persons from the regional committee, club representatives and interested individuals. Since events were moving quickly around that date, there was much information to be shared and considered. The floor were generous with their feedback, and were appreciative of Allan and Stephen giving their time and talents. We're looking forward to receiving their findings. (They are now on the front page of this website.)

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