As Maureen fired the December 31st opening shot “PLAY BIL BRIDGE,” Onlyyuman opened 2NT as the first bid of the 3rd Annual BIL New Year’s Eve MARATHON. Playing against BIL teachers Hoki and Gowanlock, as you see below, her partner TwstofLime might easily have gone to 3NT but the sound of Maureen’s starting pistol was so startling, it caused Twst to wake up, drop her glass of Coke, and . . . pass. It was only after Onlyyuman made 3NT that Twst whined about her singleton heart.
More than 30 countries participated this year. Mentors, Teachers, BIL grads, Experts, and Stars were shufflin’ and dealin’ the cards at the tables, helping BILies improve their game! Many came simply to play and share the fun of the BIL. And many found it difficult to leave.
As BILies followed the Bells of Midnight around the world, Board 99 was played with fireworks bursting high over the midnight skies of Mumbai! Playing #99 was 2010 record holder LeggyGodiv with MsPetey and back2back/Eszter5.
Camaraderie and great bridge banter was rampant among not only the BILies but also the BIL experts. Talking about the previous hand, below Athene questions Angel Blue’s ‘bigger 6.’
Tables running with higher board numbers began receiving ‘nicknames.’ DaveTaylor, our Mentor Programme Liaison Officer , gave one table the nickname of ‘Table of the Ancients,’ perhaps referring to the higher level players or perhaps referring to one of the web’s multiplayer games—bridge? We can only speculate with Dave’s multifaceted and extraordinary sense of humor—ask him when you see him online. No doubt each one of us will get a different answer.
At the ‘Dutch Master Table,’ it seemed Gerrit Fia , playing with Ria, was happy when the table had racked up more than 846 boards.
When MARATHON11 was over, Gerrit sent his count to the BIL and expressed his feelings about MARATHON11:
Note in the screen shot chat above that Duffer66, one of the main players on the BIL Special Events Team, was in her own words “truly gone.”
Marathon11 was not without serious drama. When an earthquake aftershock hit the Timaru area of New Zealand, Maureen experienced a power outage, taking down the MARATHON server and "marathon11" with it.
In NZ M is trying not to panic - thinking no problem 'use the new wireless T stick' - minutes later oh 'drat and darn' the thing doesnt work, what now ? - ring Jacobcg in Chrischurch ( the worst Equake area ! ) - yes Jane had power so was able to let everyone know what was happening and to make sure the table was kept going.
hope>Club: Not nice to hit NZ on New Year with Earth Quakes, let’s hope all our friends are safe
At last the power came back on
hallway>Club: ♦ Hi all – it was only a sharp jolt so I am fine  but it took out the Power and the new Tstick to go wireless didn’t work  all powered up again now I'll open a new Marathon11 table and the players can switch to the new one ( bd 200)
DaveTaylor> Club: is that all you can do down there for excitement?
 >
As if that wasnt enough drama a couple days later Marathon11 took another dive when the Laptop had a 'serious system failure' - the alert said maybe a restart might restore, if not it was lethally fatal ! - with heart in mouth M, with a few whispered words of encourgement to LP went for the restart and all was well once more -musical chairs again ( Bd 613) and Marathon11 entered Phase 3 for the homeward run. |
shined at MARTHON11. Among them were Rich Reisig, Roland Wald, Barnet Shenkin, Bill Jacobs, Radev Radoslav, John Gowdy, and Ron Klinger and below Mildred Breed playing at a table with Papi ( BIL mentor) and BILies Joylson and 92-year-old jay6.
