Special Events Start Page

Clubs in a Unit in Canada (like Unit 430) have available almost twice the number of special games as their American counterparts.  We participate in the ACBL special events and those run by the Canadian Bridge Federation to select Canadian champions.  Players in Unit 430 are eligible to participate in all such events.  This makes for a hectic local calendar!
Unit 430 has historically had strong representation at the national finals of multi-level events, both at North American Bridge Championships and at the annual Canadian Bridge Federation Bridge Week.  In order to assist our players who win local qualifying games in attending these championships, Unit 430 has a subsidy policy which is reviewed annually by the Unit Board.  The policy also exists to ensure that Unit subsidies are given out fairly to the eligible players who apply.  Each year a significant portion of the money raised by local tournaments goes back to our players through this subsidy policy.  And not just to the top-level players, for most of the events the subsidy policy applies to have multiple flights.
In addition to the multi-level events beginning at the club level and continuing through stages to the national finals, there are also other special events: month-long periods for special games, charity and other fund-raising games, and one-time special games.  Details on all of these are in these purple pages.

The Grand National Teams District 19 Finals were held in Everett April 5-6.

CHAMPIONSHIP FLIGHT - 4 Teams
1. Pat Dunn - Jim Aitken - Ray Loftis, Bellevue WA; Ken Christiansen, Bothell WA
2. Michael Hargreaves - Doug Fraser, Victoria BC; Aidan Ballantyne, Burnaby BC; Cameron Doner, Richmond BC

FLIGHT A (0-5000 MP) 2 Teams
1. Dave Grubbs, Seattle WA; Steve Handley, Edmonds WA; Mike Wilson, New Westminster BC; Howard Epley, Kent WA; Alan Epley, Bellevue WA

FLIGHT B (0-2000 MP) 8 Teams
1. Pat White, Bothell WA; Cristal Nell, Woodinville WA; Adam Ruprecht, Seattle WA; Jeff Ford, Redmond WA
2. Bob Seki, Seattle WA; Drew Hoskins - Min Zheng - Fan Zhang, Redmond WA
3/4. Jingsong Liu, Kirkland WA; Yong Cao, Redmond WA; Wenjie Deng, Mercer Island WA; Dong Yan, Sammamish WA
3/4. Angela Fenton, North Vancouver BC; Zoran Peca, Vancouver BC; Andrew Lee, Richmond BC; Jadwiga Polujan, Port Coquitlam BC

FLIGHT C (0-500 MP, non-LM) 4 Teams
1. Long Xie - Joan Tang - Roy Li, Burnaby BC; Baixiang Liu - David Hu, Vancouver BC; Jeffrey Ren, Richmond BC

Winning teams in all four flights receive a US$1400 grant from District Nineteen to attend the National Final, held at the Summer NABC, this year in Las Vegas NV, July 17-27.  Good luck!

The B.C. Zone Finals of the CNTC, and part of the split-site CWTC Zone Final, was played recently at the Vancouver Bridge Centre.

Canadian National Team Championships B.C. Zone Final (February 16-17)

Ten teams played, five in Flight A and five more in Flight B.  Two days of tough competition produced these winners:

CNTC Flight A (5 teams, 3 qualify to the National Final, one with a CBF subsidy)

1. Doug & Sandra Fraser, Mike Hargreaves, Gord McOrmond


2. Aidan Ballantyne, Jim McAvoy, Katrin Litwin, Mike Dorn Wiss
3. Larry Pocock, Martin Henneberger, Les Fouks, Nick Stock
4. Brad Bart, Michael Yuen, Susan Peters, Julie Smith

CNTC Flight B (5 teams, 2 qualify to the National Final, one with a CBF subsidy -- a third team may be invited)

1. Samuel Lai, Kam Tang, David Hu, Tao Feng, John Chen, Jack Lee



2. Andrew Nalos, Andrew Lee, Ken Ramsay, Zoran Peca
3. Curtis Wright, Micheal Dickie, William & Debbie Wastle, Mihail Vitchev, David de Kezel
4. Long Xie, Eric Pan, Baixiang Liu, Roy Li, Kai Zhou

Canadian Women's Team Championships B.C. Zone Final (Vancouver heat) (February 3)

Eight teams played in the Vancouver event on Super Bowl Sunday.  Over five hours of tough competition produced these winners:

CWTC (8 teams, 1 qualifies to the National Final, one or two more may also be invited)

1. Angela Fenton, Patti Adams, Marguerite Chiarenza, Samantha Nystrom
2. June Pocock, Kathy Adachi, Julie Smith, Susan Peters
3. Anne Smith, Sima Sadri, Marlene Powell, Myra Johnston
4. Cathy Miller, Tomie Yamanouchi, Gail Heuchert, Christa Mead

Five more teams played in the simultaneous Victoria version of the event.  The winners of each event earned an automatic qualification to the National Final.

In all these events, teams may add or change players before the National Final.  Check the event conditions at the CBF webpage for full details.  The National Finals of the CWTC and CNTC will be held in Montreal-Dorval, May 24-31.  The CBF Co-ordinator will get in touch with teams interested in continuing with complete CBF subsidy information (CNTC winners also received an info package at the end of the game).  Bonne chance à Montréal!