Well done to Ireland (Mark Moran, John Carroll, Tom Hanlon, Conor Boland, Adam Mesbur, Nick FitzGibbon, and NPC Grainne Barton) on an excellent performance in the first of two weekends for the Camrose Trophy (open home international championship), held in Prestwick, Scotland, over the weekend. The weekend started inauspiciously, with a heavy defeat to defending champions England, an ominous sign that the recent English domination of this event might continue. However, in their next match England were “nilled” by Wales (themselves subsequently “nilled” by Scotland), and the Irish team won all four of their remaining matches to establish a narrow lead going into the second weekend, with England second, and Scotland third. So all to play for in the second weekend in Belfast in March.
Waterford Congress was held over the weekend, in the well-appointed and welcoming Tower Hotel. The winners of the main events were:
- Congress Pairs: Marcin Rudzinski & Wojciech Gorcycza
- Intermediate Pairs: Anthony Deevy & Maria Byrne
- Mixed Pairs: Rosaleen White & Declan Roche
- Congress Teams: John O’Connor, Justin Spratt, Kay Cussen, Denis Sheehan
Thanks to the Congress Committee, and to Tournament Director Diarmuid Reddan for making sure everything ran smoothly.
The 2nd WBF Women’s Online Teams Championship also took place over the weekend, with seven Irish teams participating in a field of 74 on the RealBridge platform. The highest placed Irish team was Triers (Gilda Pender, Jeannie Fitzgerald, Joan Kenny, Louise Mitchell, Lucy Phelan, Rebecca O’Keeffe-Brown, Siobhan Part, Teresa Rigney) who came eleventh. Thanks to our WBF representative Mary Kelly-Rogers, and our EBL Co-Ordinator Joan Kenny, for their continuing efforts on behalf of women’s bridge.