Best of luck to the two teams representing Ireland in the inaugural competition for the British Isles Trophy, to be held this weekend on RealBridge. Our teams are Ireland: Marcin Rudzinski (Captain) and Michelle Moloney, Michael MacAuliffe and Sandra Newell, Justin Corfield and Mairead Haugh, and CBAI: Peter Stewart (Captain) and Aoife MacHale, Terry Walsh and Bríd Kemple, Peter Goodman and Hilary MacDonagh.
Ten teams in all will take part, two from Ireland, Wales, Scotland, and England, one from Northern Ireland, and one from South Africa. The idea is that a Camrose-style competition for mixed teams would be welcome, and would reflect the increasing popularity of mixed events. For the moment, this one will be online, but who knows how things may unfold in the future. Our thanks to the Scottish Bridge Union, and particularly Mike Ash, for being the prime movers in getting this event up and running. In case anyone is surprised at the nomenclature, we are advised that “British Isles” is a geographical term without political connotation (although it definitely does not include South Africa!). A trophy has been commissioned, and will be presented to the winners at a live event in their country in due course. It would be great to have an Irish team as the first to have their names engraved on the salver.
The matches start at 4 p.m. on Friday 28 March, and full information (including results once the competition starts) can be found here. Kibitzing will be available, with a short security delay, using the RealBridge kibitzing link.