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WAIKATO BAYS NEWS with Anna Kalma
Waikato Bays news in April
We have moved from the summer of competitive teams events into the autumn of more relaxed restricted, multigrade as well as the start of the Junior and Intermediate tournaments in the region.
Hamilton's Restricted Open Pairs
The day after daylight saving ended saw Hamilton welcome 58 pairs to take part in their 8B Restricted tournament. This included visitors from throughout the Waikato Bays and Auckland but also was very well supported by the host club members including many for whom it was an introduction to tournaments . Hamilton is blessed with having a large venue and president Nigel Gresson was pleased to note that it has been a while since both rooms were being utilised for a single tournament.
The competition was close with less than 0.5% separating the top three spots.However eventual winners were locals Tim Healy and Sam Armstrong.
Sam Armstrong and with a word or three to say, Tim Healy
Top Open-Junior pairing were Matamata/Te Aroha Laurie Belfield playing with Malcolm Kirkby who also finished 3rd overall. Malcolm also topped the field at the recent Waikato Bays Novice event in March and will be earning the rank of Intermediate next year despite only learning the game two years ago.
Looking particularly chuffed post play in Hamilton are Laurie Belfield and Malcolm Kirkby
TWITs to the fore
Taking their lead from Wellington and Auckland, the Waikato clubs (with Cambridge and Clare Coles as the driving force) have instigated a social teams events which kicked off in Hamilton in March, using the acronym TWITS (The Waikato Interclub Teams), 24 teams from most clubs in Waikato will meet on the third Friday every month over the next six months with the hope to earn the inaugural titles of "top TWITs". As extra incentive, the best team on the night gets to take back to their club bragging rights but also the opportunity to take home their respective trophies as below.
Junior, Indie and Oscar. These cuties were handmade by Di Emms from the Cambridge club.
Triathlon at"The Mount"
Another innovative concept comes from Mt Maunganui who have introduced their version of a multisport event…. Golf in the morning, then lunch followed by Bridge in the afternoon. This takes place on May 17th. So, we look forward to hearing how the event goes. Those who know the Mt Maunganui Bridge club will appreciate it is nestled right on the edge of a golf course. So it is ideally suited to a triathlon of golf/lunch/bridge.
I can understand that in Bridge you try and get the highest score and in golf the lowest. However, "lunch" is the intriguing part of the triathlon. Is it the player who eats the most in the shortest time? Just asking!
Celebration of High Scores at the table and in Age
Talking about Mt Maunganui; they also recently hosted 19 tables at their Multigrade 5A tournament which was won by daughter/mother combo and New Zealand Women’s representatives; Jenna and Christine Gibbons. The duo took the pressure off themselves (and put it on everybody else in the room) by setting up a a jaw dropping 74% in the first session (followed by a mere 63% in the afternoon) to take the overall spot with a 10% buffer between them and second.
A good day's work at The Mount for Jenna and while 90 years' young Sonia Crawford
Christine Gibbons keeps on gaining those A Points. That glass of Pinot Gris
will certainly help (we hope it was a Kim Crawford wine Sonia !).
Matamata Bridge doyenne Sonia Crawford turned 90 last week and she has been celebrating for at least a week with friends, family and bridge players (luckily she has a ready source of wine via her winemaking son Kim Crawford). Sonia still plays regularly at A grade tournaments and a look at her ranking points online indicates she is bucking the trend of many of her contemporaries and becoming more prolific with age with regards to racking up A points. Using her 3 year rolling average of attaining 20 A points a year, I’ve worked out she will make Grand Master status by the time she is 95. Something to look forward to Sonia!
Radio Advertising
The start of autumn also heralds the start of lessons for most clubs. There has been collaboration within the region by 16 clubs to run local radio advertising which is being partially supported by the Waikato Bays committee. Readers may recall the success Hamilton club has had in previous years by using local radio to advertise their lessons.
You can listen to the new radio advert being used in the Waikato region here [insert radio ad]. While the jury is still out on how many bums on seats the radio adverts have been solely responsible for, the adverts are definitely raising the profile of Bridge in the area and making it easier to have a conversation about bridge with non-bridge players.
Attached below is the advert for those who may wish to hear it
radio ad.mp3 (0.35MB)
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