1,000 to show their hand at 45th Bridge Congress
SOME serious card playing will take place in Wexford this weekend (February 3-5), when bridge players from around Ireland arrive in the town to attend the 45th staging of the Wexford Bridge Congress at Clayton Whites Hotel.
Almost 1,000 bridge players, many from outside the county, are expected, providing welcome a boost to the local economy at a quiet time of year.
Michael Coffey, Chairman of the organising committee, Secretary Maurice Brosnan and the committee have been hard at work for the past few months ensuring that everything is ready for one the most popular and successful Bridge Congresses on the Irish bridge calendar.
Over the three days of competition, bridge players will compete for almost €6,000 in prize money spread over a number of events.
The Congress will be officially opened at 7.15 p.m. on Friday (February 3), in Clayton Whites by Pat Duff from Ardee in Louth, the President of the Contract Bridge Association of Ireland. After his welcome to the card players, the cards will be dealt and dedicated players of the game will settle down for a weekend of serious card playing.
All competitions take place in the McClure Suite in the hotel.
The focus of competition on Friday night will be on the Mixed Pairs, Inter B Pairs, Novice Pairs and Open Pairs, all starting at 7.30 p.m.
The highlight on Saturday will be the Congress Pairs and Intermediate Pairs where some of the top local players will be striving over two four-hour sessions to keep some of the valuable prizes on offer from the hands of the visitors. Open Pairs will be held on Saturday afternoon and again on Saturday night in Whites Hotel.
All competitions on Saturday afternoon start at 1.30 p.m. while the evening session is at 7 p.m.
Prizes for the Mixed Pairs, Congress Pairs and Intermediate Pairs will be presented after the close of competition on Saturday night. Proceedings will start early on Sunday with the Congress Teams of Four starting at 11am.
The Open Pairs will begin at 1.30 p.m. on Sunday while the final session of Open Pairs will commence at 7 p.m. on Sunday evening.
Entries for all the major competitions to Michael Coffey on (053) 9158853, Maurice Brosnan on (053) 9128323 or muirisbrosnban@gmail.com or Jim Doyle at jamcsdoyle@eircom.net