Thanks to all who took part in the Novice & Intermediate Congress on BBO over the weekend of 18-20 February, including many who were playing in a CBAI event for the first time. We hope that you all enjoyed yourselves; certainly our Tournament Directors Diarmuid Reddan and Bernard Higgins did everything they could to make everyone comfortable.
The top places in the various competitions went to:
- Mixed Pairs: 1. Bryan Ryan & Sari Winckworth; 2. Aidan McLaughlin & Mairead McDaid; 3. James Ward & Michelle Heaslip
- Novice Pairs: 1. Eileen Brosnan & Hugh O’Connell; 2. Michelle & Suzie Berkery; 3. Sylvia Kennedy & Elizabeth Butler
- Gala Pairs: 1. Martin Delaney & Colman O’Callaghan; 2. Linda Walsh & Sandra Peden; 3. John & Paul Woodlock
- Intermediate A Pairs: 1. Donal O’Keeffe & Andrias Ó Caoimh; 2. Sheena Duffy & Helen Ahern; 3. Gerry McCague & James Ward
- Intermediate B Pairs: 1. Ann Fox & Michael O’Hanlon; 2. Bridget Hession & Sean Keane; 3. Eamon Kelly & Anne Dunne
- Novice & Intermediate Teams: 1. Susan Webb, Ian Menzies, Austin Leahy, Mark Ryan; 2. Grace Corcoran, Anne Kinsella, Maria Lynch, Fiona Place; 3. Mary Whooley, Lillian Swaine, Brendan Ruddy, Brian McCann
The weekend also saw the CBAI host the junior home internationals, virtually on RealBridge. We hope that all the juniors enjoyed themselves, although it would have been much nicer to be able to welcome our visitors to Ireland in person.
After a long weekend’s bridge, England successfully defended both the Junior Camrose (Under-26) and Peggy Bayer (Under-21) trophies, the latter by a comfortable margin ahead of the hosts, the former narrowly from a team representing the EBU. The winning Junior Camrose squad was Jonathan Clark, Kripa Panchagnula, Daniel Winter, Sam Anoyrkatis, Ewa Wieczorek, and Charlie Bucknell, with NPC Nick Sandqvist. The Peggy Bayer winners, with an average age of just 15, and containing more females than males for the first time amongst the winners of any mixed-gender junior competition, according to their NPC, were Lucy Norman, Tom Furness, Charlotte Bedford, Venetia Anoyrkatis, Raphaela Sinclair, and Rufus Barnett, with NPC Giorgio Provenza.
The Irish plans were disrupted by the sad news of the death of Ken Walsh, whose two daughters had been due to play on the Junior Camrose team, and our sympathies once again go to Sheila and Denise on their loss. NPCs Karel De Raeymaeker and John Phelan threw themselves into a frantic effort to put out two teams, and did so successfully. The Peggy Bayer team of Luca Crone, Matthew O’Farrell, Adam Murphy, Tom Gorey, and Isabel Burke won the majority of their matches, and finished second to England. The Junior Camrose team featured a relatively inexperienced pair originally slated to play in the Peggy Bayer, and several scratch partnerships with no practice under their belts. They started well, winning their first two matches, but then faded to finish sixth. Our thanks to Jarlath McDonnell, Jason Doyle, Billy Stenson, Sam Connolly, and David Hoyne, for either making themselves available or upgrading to the senior squad at short notice, to ensure we were represented in both competitions. Hopefully all our players enjoyed themselves and gained valuable experience from the weekend.
Our thanks to TD Fearghal O’Boyle for his usual efficient and helpful directing, and to the RealBridge team for their technical support, but most of all thanks to all the juniors who played the events in the most sporting spirit.