Well done to Fearghal O’Boyle, Mairead Basquille, and Diarmuid Reddan on their herculean efforts over the weekend of 5-7 June to deliver a highly successful virtual Yeats Country (Sligo) Congress online on BBO.
The congress was being run as a charitable event in aid of three hospices – North West Hospice (Sligo), Milford Hospice (Limerick), and Blackrock Hospice (Dublin) – and the very generous gesture of BBO to waive their usual share of the entry fees, combined with a huge turnout, means that a fantastic amount of around €8,000 was raised for the three hospices. Believe us when we tell you that running these competitions online (there were thirteen sessions of pairs and four sessions of teams over the weekend) takes an incredible amount of work, time, and technical expertise, so if you played and you have an opportunity to convey your thanks to Fearghal, Mairead, or Diarmuid, we’re sure they’d appreciate it.
The winners of the major events were:
- Congress Teams: Sean O’Lubaigh, Martin Brady, David Dunne, Wojciech Gorczyca
- Intermediate Teams: George Ryan, Bridget Ryan, Liz Jennings, Peter Ryan
- Mixed Pairs: Rebecca O’Keeffe & Karel De Raymaeker
- Congress Pairs: Dan McIntosh & BJ O’Brien
- Intermediate A Pairs: Freddy Murphy & Anne Hegarty
- Intermediate B Pairs: Bernie Murphy & Vivienne Cosgrove
- Novice Pairs: Colin Kelly & Gary Beirne
- Gala Open Pairs: Finola Higgins & Tom McIntyre
A list of the top placed competitors in each category is here and full results can be found in our Competitions Results section. The online congress provided the next best thing to the traditional warm Sligo welcome, and offered bridge players from all over the world a chance to enjoy a great weekend’s bridge. Hopefully they will all be able to convene in person next year for the biggest Yeats Country Congress ever.