Roundup - Week 44

Barry & JennyThe big event of the week - in case you missed it - was the Babich NZ-Wide Pairs which was won by Barry Jones & Jenny Millington of "our" Hamilton club. In 4th place nation-wide were Tony Hacking & Pat Rutherford of Tauranga while Neil Dravitzky & Paul Cosgrove of Rotorua scooped up the last Regional A point in finishing 16th. The event occupied 998 pairs in 59 clubs around the country last Friday night. This mammoth turn-out was scored using Bob Fearn's Compass scoring operated by Bob in Seattle and half your regional committee (by coincidence) in Cambridge. Jan, Anna, and Michael sat up for a couple of hours after play to do this job. Next year we've worked out that we can do it split over three countries as Jan will be sunning himself in Rarotonga about then - though probably not at midnight.

Fantastic news on the Te Aroha site. Young Jacob Kalma (reported to be avoiding any more tournaments in 2016 so he can continue to blitz Intermediate tournaments next year) within just four years of learning the game, has been named non-traveling reserve for the Youth Team to play in Oz come January. Hope that won't clash with the WBRC Thames Summer Festival, Jacob.

The Cambridge site has a blog of Jane Stearn's tour of Southland whither she was invited to address their Regional Conference held on Sunday the 6th. As part of the trip Jane gave seminars at the East Otago Bridge Club in Palmerston (South), Gore (for the West Otago club based in Tapanui), and Winton. She was treated to some real Southern hospitality and has posted some great pics in her blog.

Karen Martelletti has posted an informative article on seeding on this site - referred to by Mount Maunganui site.

Several clubs hosted a Melbourne Cup day last Tuesday. You can read about a couple on the Taupo and Tauranga sites.

Thames celebrates a win in the Open/Junior section of Waiheke's annual tournament. Waiheke is the old stamping ground of Greg & Nancy Davenport who are taking an active part in the club since moving to Thames last year. It's always good to revisit old haunts, especially when you win tournaments there.