Yet another busy weekend, with Malahide Congress at the Grand Hotel, and the deciding second weekend of the IBU Mixed Trials in Templeogue.
In Malahide, special congratulations are due to Mary Kelly-Rogers and her organising team on a fantastic congress. There were 265 tables in play over the weekend, so more than a thousand “participants” (although obviously some individuals played several different events). On Saturday, the room was full to capacity, to the extent that extra tables had to be sourced at the last minute from a local club. Of course, TD Diarmuid Reddan was able to cope with this and all the other challenges thrown at him over the weekend. The prizewinners were:
- Gala Pairs: Margaret Farren & Anna Carr
- Mixed Pairs: Deirdre Tuckey & Seamus Costello
- Novice Pairs (Fri): Imelda Lambkin & Niamh Quinn
- Congress Pairs: Deirdre Tuckey & Seamus Costello – well done on a notable double success!
- Area Master Pairs: Simon Healy & Mary Healy
- Intermediate A Pairs: Deirdre Lonergan & Catherine Carabine
- Intermediate B Pairs: Verena Durrer & Nuala Hagan
- Novice Pairs (Sun): Laetitia MacMahon & Mai Kearns
- Congress Teams: Paul Delaney, Martin Brady, Michael McAuliffe, Michael Donnelly
- Intermediate Teams: Deirdre Lonergan, Catherine Carabine, Marian Keane, Jean Carberry
- Open Pairs: Eileen Brennan & Margaret Barron; Niamh Feeney & Pat Moriarty; Bryan Wallace & Robert Wallace
Thanks also to the congress committee and the Grand Hotel for facilitating two other events over the weekend. On Friday night, Michael O’Loughlin gave a “taster session” to eleven people who had signed up to learn a bit about bridge and see if they would like it. Michael gave an overview of the game, the attendees played some MiniBridge, and Michael has followed up with useful information, including where to find details of bridge classes. And on Saturday morning, CBAI Vice-President Martin Brady did a review session of the previous evening’s hands, with attendees making a small donation to junior bridge in Ireland. Thanks to Martin and Michael for giving their time for these two good causes.
The winners of the IBU Mixed Trials, who will represent Ireland at the European Mixed Championships in Riga in the summer, are Karel De Raeymaeker, Anna Onishuk, Lucy Phelan, John Phelan, Pat McDaid, Zrinka Kokot. Well done and best of luck to them, and commiserations to the team of Tommy Garvey, Diane Greenwood, Louise Mitchell, David Walsh, Ciaran Coyne, Cynthia Coyne, who battled for the top spot all weekend, and finished second by a narrow margin. Thanks to TD Fearghal O’Boyle for making sure everything went smoothly.
IBU Mixed Trials Winners