The 2014 bridge year ended with the Year End (see article here) and Northern Year End congresses, with 350 tables in play across the events.
The Northern Year End Congress took place at Dunkenhalgh Hotel near Blackburn from 28th to 30th December, and began with Mixed and Open Pairs events. The Mixed Pairs was won by Nick & Stephanie Forward (both Worcestershire) (picture) with 62.50%. Second were Tim & Babs Matthews (both Cumbria) with 62.09% and third were Bill & Liz Wattleworth (both Lancashire) with 60.16%.
The Open Pairs was won by John Holland & Alan Mould (both Manchester) who scored 64.46% and finished over 6% clear of the field. Bill Carr & Stuart Clarke (both Lancashire) were second, with Peter Hall (Merseyside/Cheshire) & Nigel Marlow (Berks & Bucks) finishing in third.
Alan & John (pictured left) continued their run of success by winning the Swiss Pairs which followed. They lost two matches, but recorded three 'maximums' to finish on 143 VPs. They lost one of the matches to the eventual runners-up Jeff Smith & Jackie Pye (both Lancashire), who led prior to the final round but slipped into second after a narrow defeat. They ended on 140 VPs, with Nick Forward & Dennis Loynes (both Worcestershire) third on 133 VPs.
The Swiss Teams which concluded the congress was won by the team of Richard Pike, David Waxman, Steve Blackburn & Gill Copeland (all Yorkshire) (picture). They won six out of seven matches (the loss being 9-11) and finished on 103 VPs. Jeff Smith and Jackie Pye, having teamed with Kath & Alan Nelson (Manchester), were again runners-up, finishing on 97 VPs, with the team of Austin Barnes, Rod Greenhalgh, Desmond King and Stuart Norris (all Lancashire) in third, a further seven VPs back.
January 2, 2015