Congratulations to Waikato Bay’s winners in the Inter-Provincial Trials.

Intermediate IP TeamThroughout New Zealand last weekend, keen Bridge players were competing for the honour of playing for their Region in the Inter-Provincial Teams, a national competition which will be held in November in Auckland.

The trials to represent our Region were held in Tauranga over two days. Four teams of four players were selected to represent Open, Seniors, Women’s and Intermediate groups.

In the Open section, the partnership of Brett Glass of Huntly and Gary Foidl of Waikato Bridge Club, led the field. This will be the third occasion the pair have played for their Region on the Open team. Consistent play rewarded Tony Hacking and Pat Rutherford from Tauranga, repeating their last year’s success when they represented us in Wellington, they were also selected to make up the team. Kathy Yule from Matamata, and her partner Jo Simpson (absent from photo) from Tauranga, finished top in their field and were selected to participate in the Women’s section, their first choice. Jane Stearns and Di Emms of Cambridge Bridge club were also selected to make up the team of four. Once again, Rachelle Pelkman and Murray Wood from Tauranga, who also represented us in Wellington last year were chosen, with Josie McKenzie and Jena Robinson from the Thames Club making up the team for the Senior section.

The Intermediate section was won by June and Peter Hagan from Tauranga, with Rochelle Van Heuven and Tim Rigter of Te Awamutu making up the Intermediate team.

Organising and supporting our Waikato team in the role of Chef de Mission will be Karen Martelletti once again. Her role was crucial to the success we achieved last year, and we will hopefully have another successful tournament in Auckland. Each of the seven regions send a team of four to compete in each section. The prize in this great national tournament is the Douglas McLean Interprovincial Trophy. Points are given to each pairs position in each event and the winners will be the region who collects the most points collated across each of the four sections. All our hopes and good wishes go with the members of the Waikato Bays teams.