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Otago/Southland News with Brad Johnston

Unlike the last recap I wrote, it feels like no time has passed since I’ve penned one of these. Then I think back to all the new happenings since then and find that it has actually been a while. Time is a weird thing.


We’ve had a few tournaments since then, which I’ll cover presently. But first I want to call out that a (mostly) new Otago/Southland Regional Committee has been formed, including Judith Lawton (Invercargill) the new committee Chair, Yvonne Hughes (Invercargill), Lynne Fegan (Wanaka), Ernie Sutton (Queenstown), and Brad Johnston (Dunedin). The handover process has been slow from the old committee, but I’m hopeful that in the coming regional reports, I’ll be able to highlight some cool initiatives.

The “new” tournament results from the region are as follows:

Invercargill Swiss Pairs, 14th November

I always try and find something to say about tournaments, but this one is too far in the past for me to recall much. Geoff Eyles does all of the scoring for events run at the Invercargill Club (he’s their chief Scorer scorer), so maybe a win here was restoring some of the karmic balance for giving so selflessly. Geoff, love your work.

1st

Geoff Eyles & Harry Shepherd

105.29 vp

2nd

Jean-Olivier Begouin & Ernie Sutton

96.17  vp

3rd

Sandy Buzzard & Paul Tomlinson

87.04 vp

     1st overall                                           2nd overall                          Top Intermediates

Harry Shepherd Sue Scott and Greg Eyles.jpg  Jean Olivier Begoin .jpg  Trish Clearwater Lee Davies.jpg
Harry Shepherd, Invercargill Club President   Jean- Olivier Begouin       Trish Clearwater and Lee Davies
Sue Scott and Geoff Eyles                              and Ernie Sutton

 

Nina Hewitt Christmas Pairs, 6th December

The capstone event for the O/S tournament year. 30 pairs decided to travel from between Invercargill and Waimate to contest this 3A.

 

 

%

1st

Matt Blakeley & Brad Johnston

127.20

2nd

Arleen Schwartz & Jeff Miller

120.32

3rd

Kevin Skoropada & Moss Wylie

116.34

 

A few weeks prior, Matt was the recipient of the C-point trophy for the Open division at the Otago Club. While receiving it, he made sure to thank all of his partners for the year with whom he earned C-points. There was also a special call-out for yours truly, as I was the only person he played with whom he didn’t win a single C-point. I’d like to think that this was something of an apology for that Matt, seeing as you won the trophy anyway.

Alexandra Holiday Pairs, 8th/9th January

46 pairs contested this booked out event in Central Otago. Nothing interesting must have happened, because no-one reported anything salacious back to the correspondent, who was too slow in organising anything to enter before it was booked out. It is good to see people coming from so far to play it though, so I hope they enjoyed the venue and the bridge.

 

 

%

1st

Arleen Schwartz & Peter Hall

127.84

2nd

John Patterson & Anne-Marie Russell

125.70

3rd

Phil and Marilyn Noye

121.52

 

Commiserations to Greg Buzzard and Marilyn Jackson, who finished 6th this year, a few boards off from completing the 2019-2021 hat-trick.

Otago/Southland Swiss Pairs, 16th January

Back down to Invercargill for the first “big” event of the year. 46 pairs took part, some coming from as far as Akarana to compete. The weather down south was lovely, but sadly I didn’t find the cards the same.

 

 

vps

1st

Anne Cosgrove & Marilyn Jackson

104.55

2nd

Mindy Wu & Pamela Nisbet

102.67

3rd

Trish & Peter Downward

101.26

                           1st, 2nd and 3rd at the Otago Southland Swiss Pairs

 Marilyn Jackson and Anne Cosgrave.jpg        Mindy Wu Pamela Nicbet 2021.jpg     Trish and Peter Downward 21.jpg 
Marilyn Jackson and          Pamela Nisbet and Mindy Wu receiving   Trish and Peter Downward
 Anne Cosgrove               their prize from Regional Committee
                                        Chairperson, Judith Lawton (right)

It’s always nice when a local pair win a big event like this. I’d also like to point out that three Intermediate pairs took part in the event, and finished 16th, 17th, and 18th respectively. That’s pretty good going, especially looking at the rankings of some of the pairs who finished below that. So well done to each of:

 

 

vps

16th

Sherry & Jeff Elton

86.49

17th

Jan Brown & Yvonne Hughes

82.50

18th

Barbara Hutton & Lydia Turley

81.83

Otago Festival Pairs, 31st January

And back to the other ‘main centre’ of the South. 34 pairs celebrated the last glorious day in January  by sitting inside playing bridge. Although most seemed to be complaining all light-hearted about the weather, few seemed to be as surly as local player Kristen Collins. So, I was surprised to see the scores as follows:

 

 

%

1st

Donna Ruwhiu &Kristen Collins

126.92

2nd

Paul Freeland& Margaret Perley

124.40

3rd

Brad Johnston& Lydia Turley

117.78

  1st overall                                              Top Intermediates                                 Top Junior Pair

Donna Ruwhiu and Kristen Collins 2021.jpg   Murray Barron and Dave Larsen.jpg  Archie Crawford and Joan Saunders.jpg

Donna Ruwhiu and Kristen Collins           Murray Barron and Dave Larsen (see below)   Archie Crawford and Joan Saunders

I’ll also call out 4th place here (Murray Barron & Dave Larsen (117.42%)), as they were the top Intermediate pair in the event. Kristen and Donna “struggled” in the morning with a mere 55% set, but followed it up with a 71.88% score to blow past the more consistent 60% & 64% sets posted by Paul and Margaret. I hope winning both their sessions will make up for not winning with that performance.

 And locally, I’d like to report that the Otago Club Teams starting on the 15th of February, matches every fortnight until the end of November. Currently 25 teams entered. This is always a popular event on the programme and one of our most hotly contested trophies.

 

 

 

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