There was a great turnout for the Rotorua Restricted Tournament on a lovely spring day on Saturday. Two sessions of play with some very varied hands and a lot of new partnerships made for some challenging and interesting bridge.
The overall winners were Rotorua pair Heini Lux and Roger Dempster, who also won the Open-Intermediate division. Runners-up Michael Neels and Eunice Eccles from Cambridge were also in the O-I division, which had the largest number of entries, so prizes were also awarded to the 3rd and 4th place-getters in that category – Neil and Mary Dravitzki, and Ruth Lewis and Rex Tulloch respectively – all local players, so a great result for the home club!
Open-Junior winners were Stephen Francks and Mike Newton from Tauranga, with Sharon Opai and Rosemary Ritchie of Taupo second. First in the Intermediate-Juniors were the Rotorua pairing of Rowan Friend and Lode Van Grootel. In the two smallest sections Cathy Ward and Kevin Jensen of Rotorua were top of the Int-Int, and Gabrielle Harris and Annie Barry from Te Puke won the Junior-Junior.
A range of delicious home-made soups prepared by club members was much enjoyed by the players at lunch-time, as well as an excellent selection of morning and afternoon tea. Many thanks to Pam Moore and her Welsh wizards (Glynis and Angela) in the kitchen for organising and feeding everyone so well. Thanks also to Heini and a hobbling Alan Dick for their organisation, Rona for directing and Jan for scoring. It all made for a very well-run and enjoyable day.
