Many congratulations to Alan Parkes and Graham Stern who won the 5A Open title at Taupo over the weekend.
Graham and Alan
The event is played over three sessions across the weekend. They cleared 60% in their first session on Saturday afternoon and followed this up with an outstanding performance in the evening recording 71.91%. A 53.74% on Sunday morning was enough for them to take the title ahead of Hamilton's Ian Clayton playing with Alan Turner.
Melinda Wang and Catherine Cameron played well at the Matamata Junior tournament last weekend. They are currently studying the Nesting Pairs course and deployed some of their new bidding techniques to finish in 4th spot in a field of 28 pairs. Congratulations to them!
(Photo supplied by Lucie Armstong, clearly shaking with excitement at the pairs' achievement)

Congratulations to Hamilton's Yuzhong Chen playing with Cambridge's Herman at Tauranga on Saturday. They won the 5A title, followed by Hamilton's Brett Glass and Gary Foidl in the runner up slot.

The club rooms were packed with players from many clubs and many grades for the popular Restricted Tournament today. The food on offer was outstanding with a full meal provided at lunchtime together with an excellent morning and afternoon tea. Combined with a free glass of wine by sponsor HEARTLAND BANK this event proved a winner and most enjoyable day for all participants.

The winners today were visitors from Rotorua Pam Moore and Margaret Robbie. Pam's husband Ian Moore playing with Roger Dempster took second place, something which Pam was keen to emphasise in her acceptance speech when she spoke of her enjoyment of the event today.

Hamilton players were well served in the restricted ranks. Third place in the Open/Int category were Cynthia Clayton and Nick Yeomans.
Top finishers for Hamilton

Waikato/Hamilton combo of Duncan White and Gary Foidl came 4th with Mark Thomson and Barry Jones 5th.
Barry and Mark

Ian and his band of four took out the Teams Title at New Plymouth over the weekend. Congratulations also to Liz and Blair Fisher for making the final and finishing third overall.

Leading from the front ... congratulations to our President Mark Thomson and his partner Jeffrey Chang playing in Taupo today. Steady and accurate play saw them score a 59.42% in the morning, following it up with a 59.23% in the afternoon. Combined, this consistency brought them to the winners podium. Many congratulations to Mark and Jeffrey on their success in Taupo Intermediate.