Secretary Trophy 2014
12 July 2014, Meadows
There was a very welcome increase in the turnout for the Tournament this year. The format was 14-point advanced games with bisques and it was good to see two players take this opportunity to enter their first advanced tournament.
The twelve entrants were firstly seeded by handicap, then allocated alternately into two American blocks of six. Even with a time limit of 90 minutes, plus 1 minute per bisque, 42% of the played games went to time, usually due to some high bisque differentials and also double banking.
At the end of the block games, Jola Jurasinska and David Houston each had four wins in block A but, by dint of beating Jola in their encounter, it was David who won the block and progressed through to the final. In Block B, as Hamish failed to win his final game, it left Martin Stephenson as the sole player on four wins.
Congratulations to Jola whose handicap reduced to 12, and mention must also be made of Rachel's first game won in an AC tournament.
The intent had been to play cross ties to decide the final order for the day, but a combination of the long day and the rapidly deteriorating weather meant that it was only Martin and David who took to the court to determine the outright winner. Those who stayed to watch were treated to an interesting game, as David used up his bisques to build a lead before Martin's resurgent form deservedly saw him through to his second win in as many weeks.
Hamish Duguid
Results
Block games:
Martin Stephenson (2) bt J. Duguid +4T, R. Frith +9, A. Malcolm +3, A. Adam +2T
David Houston (11) bt J. Walker +14, B. Durward +2T, L. Gilpin +5, J. Jurasinska +1T
Jola Jurasinska (14) bt J. Walker +7, L. Gilpin +1T, B. Cosford +3T, B. Durward +10
Hamish Duguid (9) bt J. Duguid +2T, R. Frith +11, M. Stephenson +7,
Jamieson Walker (7) bt L. Gilpin +7, B. Durward +10, B. Cosford +1T
Alasdair Adam (16) bt J. Duguid +8T, R. Frith +7, H. Duguid +1T
Alistair Malcolm (14) bt A. Adam +2T, H. Duguid +10
Lyn Gilpin (24) bt B. Durward +8, B. Cosford +10T
Janice Duguid (5) bt R. Frith +9, A. Malcolm +1
Brian Cosford (18) bt D. Houston +2T, B. Durward +8
Rachel Frith (24) bt A. Malcolm +6
Brian Durward (4.5) -
Final: Martin Stephenson bt David Houston +3T (10-7)