Ian & Cynthia Clayton

When it comes to successful bridge couples, they don’t come much more so than Ian and Cynthia Clayton. When NZ Bridge published the list of top 100 Masterpoint earners of all time at the end of 2014, Cynthia was in 45^th place with 1636 A points and 1628 B points. Ian is in 6^th place having earned 3757 A points and 2810 B points. Cynthia is currently ranked as a Silver Grand Master, a rank she attained in 2011. Ian is one of the elite group of Gold Grand Masters, a rank he attained in 2004.

Ian and Cynthia both began playing bridge in the mid 1970s although they didn’t become a couple until the late 80s. Ian was already established as a top player, winning the New Zealand teams in 1985 playing with Merle and Bruce Marr (another highly successful bridge couple) and Ron Scott. Interestingly they have all been members of Hamilton. He also won the North Island Pairs in 1988 with Karen Cumpstone and the following year won the  Baden Wilson Competition for earning the most A points in a year. He was a member of the winning Open Interprovincial team playing for Central Districts in 2001. Ian was also a member of the Hawke’s Bay Congress Committee.

They did not play a lot of tournament bridge together in Hawke’s Bay, although they did play at club level. However when they moved to Rotorua in 2004 they began to play more tournaments together, due to the fact that at that stage they didn’t really know many people. They then moved to Hamilton in 2010 and they have won numerous tournaments in the region.  In 2011 they also won the NZ Seniors’ Teams playing with Ian and Pam Moore and they have also had success in Australia: In 2006 they won the North Queensland teams in Cairns playing with Palmerston North’s Bob and Ev Hurley, and in 2012 they teamed up with Bruce and Merle Marr to win the Gold Coast Congress Seniors’ Teams.
Locally, they have dominated the Waikato Area Pairs in 2011,2013, and 2014 (finishing a close second in 2012) and are regularly seen at or near the top of most of the region’s big tournaments.

 Cynthia’s hobby outside of bridge is making high quality greeting cards (which you will have all seen for sale at the club). She has done this for various charities over the years but in the last two years has donated the proceeds of these to youth bridge. She has raised around $2000 over the last two years and hopes to raise that amount again this year. Cynthia sees this as a way she can give something back to the game which has provided her with so much enjoyment over the years. Both Ian and Cynthia have also been involved in Hamilton’s mentoring program and last year played with Cynthia played with Jol Glyde and Ian with Trevor Stephenson in our Restricted Pairs tournament.

 Playing bridge is something not many life couples manage to do successfully for any length of time. While there has been the occasional “quiet drive home” according to Ian, nearly all of the time they are able to discuss the game rationally and analyse rather than argue. If that’s not working for one reason or another, Ian suggests going for a decent walk!

 So, is there anything else for this star couple to achieve? In short, no. When I asked Cynthia if she aspired to move up to Gold Grand Master I got an emphatic no, stating she won’t live the decades it would take! But joking aside, they now play less tournaments,although they still compete fiercely in a number of them, and they play regularly at the club, either together or often with their friends the Healys and the Smiths.

 Ian and Cynthia play the game to an extremely high level, and they play it in excellent spirit. You won’t find a more ethical pair in the game and if you play them: a) take the opportunity to learn something as they are always happy to give advice, and b) if you get a good board off them pat yourself on the back because you will have earned it!

Ed Roggeveen