More than 20 Peninsula players journeyed to Coffs Harbour in early August to challenge bridge players from across Australia in the 2017 Coffs Coast Gold Congress. The event again filled very quickly and those fortunate to attend experienced superb weather, a great venue, a well-organised event, and some tough bridge.
Peninsula's success was far more solid in the restricted categories than in the open fields but we managed to appear in the prize lists in most categories. You can check the full results - on the events results cover page you will notice Peter Clarke and Hans van Weeren are featured as the best pair below 300MP in the Swiss Pairs event.
The congress comprised two major events, a two day Swiss Pairs followed by a two day Swiss Teams.
Ron Smith was the best Peninsula player in the Swiss Pairs open field coming 39th out of 118 pairs playing with his Adelaide based daughter Lori, ahead of Carmel Bourke who came 47th playing with Trish Lacey. We did much better in the Intermediate/Restricted field. Not only did Peter and Hans prove themselves the best in the Restricted category (<300MP) but they were second overall in the whole Intermediate/Restricted field of 88 pairs. Chris Duggin and Faye Carnovale were just behind them coming 4th in the whole Intermediate/Restricted field.
In the Swiss Teams Ron Smith was again the most successful Peninsula player in the 72 team open field, coming 31st with his daughter Lori and George and Kitty Biro as teammates. Carmel Bourke was slightly behind at 38th, playing with teammates Trish Lacey, T Mountjoy and Jim Bean. Cath Whiddon and I came 43rd in the field playing with Julie and Mark Guthrie, but managed to be third in the under 1000MP category. In the Intermediate/Restricted field of 36 teams, Lyn Baker and Ian Bailey came 8th playing with Richard and Sally Lazar. Ray Hurst, Heidi Collenbrander, Peter Clarke and Hans van Weeren came 11th in this field, but this made them Runners-Up in the Restricted category.
In addition to the competitive aspect, this was a great time - fun was had! You can check the photos I have (and add your own.)
