The 2010 Victoria Day Sectional will take place at at the Engineer's Hall (4333 Ledger Ave., Burnaby) from May 21 - 24.

The Engineer's Hall is a location near Burnaby City Hall just off Highway 1, conveniently located for most Unit 430 players (but see the driving directions below).  May 21 is a holiday Monday in Canada: Victoria Day.

The tournament features a bracketed knockout teams on Friday Evening, Saturday Afternoon, and Saturday Evening, a StratiFlighted Pairs on Sunday and a StratiFlighted Swiss Teams on Monday.  Saturday features an Open Pairs (not stratified) with a Qualifying afternoon session and a final and consolation in the evening.  Also in the afternoon is a 0-750 stratified pairs game.  Players eliminated from the Open Pairs and those who played in the afternoon 0-750 game can play in the evening Stratified Consolation Pairs.

Saturday is a special day for newer players.  ACBL members under 50 masterpoints play for free in both Saturday sessions, while other under 50 players pay only $4.  There is a 0-50 and a 50-300 strat in the under-750 afternoon game, and there is a special under-200 game Saturday evening.

The tournament also features the Unit 430 Annual General Meeting, after the session on Saturday.  Please attend and join the discussion on Unit affairs.  There will also be an election for new Board Members if there are more nominees than vacancies.

One important change from last year is the 10:00 am start time for all final day Swiss Teams.  Another important change for all 2010 tournaments is that strats in all open events (not the 0-750 or 0-200 games) will be based on the average masterpoints of a pair or team, instead of the masterpoints of the highest-ranked player.  This means that even if you are slightly above the limit for a strat, you may still qualify for that strat if your partner or teammates are lower than the limit.

2010 Victoria Day Sectional Event Schedule:

Driving Directions to Burnaby Engineer's Hall: The best way to get to the site is to take Highway 1 to central Burnaby.  Traveling westbound on Highway 1, from East Burnaby, Coquitlam, Surrey, or the Fraser Valley, take the Kensington Ave exit (#33) and turn LEFT off the exit ramp onto Kensington Ave and over the overpass.  Continue a short distance to Canada Way and turn RIGHT.   Just past the Burnaby Winter Club on your right hand side is Ledger Ave: turn RIGHT onto Ledger Ave.  The Engineer's Hall is about a block down on the left-hand side, with parking available both across the street and just past the building on the same side.

Traveling eastbound on Highway 1, from Vancouver or the North Shore, take the Sprott St. exit (#32) and when you get to the top of the exit ramp, head STRAIGHT across the intersection onto Norland Ave.   Once you are across the intersection, watch for the first crossing street, which is Ledger Ave on the left and Kincaid St on the right.  Turn LEFT here and Ledger Ave will go down a small hill and curve to the right, parallel to the highway.  Not far after the curve will be the Engineer's Hall on the right hand side, with a parking lot before the building and another one across the street.

By Transit:  The #110 and #144 busses from Metrotown Skytrain station (to Lougheed Station and SFU: or the reverse routes) will take you very close to the site, stopping at the Burnaby City Hall Loop.  From the loop stop, walk across the pedestrian overpass over Canada Way, down the stairs, turn to the right and you will find yourself on Ledger Ave about a half block from the Engineer's Hall.  The #123 and #129 routes also get fairly close, stopping on Canada Way near Ledger or Norland.  Check Google Transit for schedule details.

Nearby Restaurants/Shopping: There are some restaurants on Canada Way near Sperling, and many restaurants and lots of shopping in the Brentwood or Metrotown areas, a short drive away.