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Well, that happened rather quickly. My previous update (early March 2020, would you believe?), set out a busy two months coming up for our local bridge players. We managed a fortnight’s worth.

On the Ides of March, I was playing in the North Island Teams at the Wellington Club. Outside of bridge, we were looking forward to a trip to Wanaka the next weekend for a friend’s birthday. Never got there, and we spent Thursday unwinding air tickets, rental cars, BnB and a motel booking.

During this same week, NZBridge was putting out quick fire guidance and making smart decisions. We in the Regional Committee also had a few decisions to make about deferring the start of our Interclub and local rubber bridge competitions. We realised that the Wellington Congress around Anzac Day would not go ahead.

This has left a gap in bridge players’ lives, but again NZ Bridge is active, helping fill the gaps across the country. Thanks also to the efforts of the Auckland club, Patrick Carter and the others who have brought BBO sessions and matches to so many. From my few dabblings with BBO, I’ve noticed many other Wellington players have taken up online bridge. We get good guidance from our more experienced players on BBO. (e.g. Jenny announcing the arrival of the drinks trolley is always welcome.)

 

Some things still progress. The points from the Gold Coast have arrived. They helped propel Michael Whibley of the Masterton Bridge Club into the ranks of the Silver Grand Masters.

 

Results from the recent past

Big Winners at the Hutt

 Maciej Szczesny and Nigel Kearney with Hutt Club President, Raewyn Dowman

The Hutt Bridge Club ran their Multi-grade Tournament on the 1^st March. There were 17 tables, quite a strong field despite players still away as the Gold Coast Congress wound up. The tournament was won by Maciej Szczesny and Nigel Kearney, averaging just over 70%. Second were Graham Weir and Arumugam Kumarasamy. Loek Strik and Alan Boaden were the top Intermediates, Toni Kane and John Rosevear the top Juniors. Alan Jennings and Neil Sargisson were the leading Open - Junior pair, and Ruth Burgess and Carol Cornelius the leading Intermediate - Junior pair.

The Wellington Club managed to hold its “Wellington 6s” event before the lockdown. Fuller results are on the Wellington Cub website (http://www.wellingtonbridge.co.nz), but here’s a photo of the winning team, the nicely themed “You Only Win Twice”. There are a few familiar faces here from the same event in March 2019, with some core players from the then winners, “The Polish Club”. I wonder what their strategy for 2021 will be. Very likely a change of name will have to be part of it.

Wellington 6's Winners once more                    Tops at Kapi Mana
"You only win Twice"

              
Brian Hoy, Mariusz and Barbara Tumilowicz          "Kum" Kumarasamy and Graham Weir 
Nelson Procter, Tymek Tumilowicz and David Don     with Kapi Mana President Kevin Stacey in the middle

 

Kapi Mana held their Multi-grade tournament a day later, with 28 pairs taking part. Graham Weir and Arumugam Kumarasamy had a good tournament again, coming first and hitting 71% in the second session. They are somewhat unlucky reaching such peak form, just as the shutters came down. Sandy Lepper and Andrew Smith were the top Intermediate pair, Julie Kropp and Ed Forsman were the top Juniors. Ian Fowler and John Joseph were the top Intermediate - Open pair.

 

As I mentioned earlier, the 20A North Island Teams were held at the Wellington Club on the 14th March. There were 7 matches of 16 boards over the two days for the 44 teams, with comprehensive results on the NZBridge website. The Burrows team (Wayne Burrows, Clair Miao, Carol Richardson and Andy Boughey) won narrowly from the Livingston team (Pam Livingston, Jan Alabaster, and locals Martin Reid and Peter Newell).

North Island Teams winners, Wayne Burrows, Carol Richardson, Andi Boughey and Clair Miao,
entrusted with the winnings!

 

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