The Bay Teams Interclub competition was held at Rotorua on Sunday 30 July with teams from Mt Maunganui, Rotorua, Taupo, Tauranga, Te Puke and Whakatane taking part. Each club fielded a team in the Open, Intermediate and Junior grades.
It was a very successful day for the host club with Rotorua taking out the overall prize with 204 Victory Points across all the grades. Tauranga were second with 173 and Whakatane third with 166.
Within each grade, both the Rotorua Open and Intermediate teams won their competition and the Junior team came a very creditable third in theirs. The Open Rotorua team scored 61 VPs and Tauranga were second with 59. The Rotorua Intermediates amassed a whopping 90 VPs, followed by Whakatane on 57. In the Junior section, Whakatane were first with 65 and Tauranga second with 56. The top two teams in each section go through to the Waikato Bays final to be held in Cambridge on 27 August. (Because the Whakatane Intermediate team wasn’t eligible to go through, the third placed Tauranga will take their place.)
It was a very enjoyable day. Many thanks to the Rotorua members who organised the event, helped in the kitchen and provided a wonderful morning and afternoon tea, to Heini for directing, and well done to all the players!
The intermediate team relaxing after a good day’s work at the bridge table – from left Elspeth Goodrick, Joyce Reid, Cathy Ward and Wendy Blackman
Four pairs from Rotorua played at the Matamata Intermediate Tournament on Sunday, in good bridge playing weather, and had some success, all ending up in the top half of the field.
The Bay Teams Shield was contested on Sunday 31 July between Rotorua, Tauranga, Whakatane, Taupo, Te Puke and Mount Maunganui clubs with Open, Intermediate and Junior teams competing. Every team payed matches of 12 boards against each other team within their grade and the scores for each match are aggregated to determine the winning club. After an excellent start, unfortunately Rotorua flagged in the middle rounds and finished third overall and the shield has gone to Tauranga, who won with a massive total of 196 VP’s. Whakatane was second on 170 and Rotorua third on 163.