By Steve Ball & Judy King 28 Sep 2009
The 2009 Bermuda Sectional was held over the weekend of 18th to 21st September and was a great success with a record breaking 130 tables. Our thanks to hard-working Tournament Coordinator Craig Hutton and his myriad of helpers and to Tournament Director Karl Hicks who is always a class act. 
Special thanks are due to all the sponsors, with particular mention to Butterfield Bank, our principal benefactor.
Click here for the winners list including all masterpoints won. A summary of all the events is shown below:
Friday afternoon
The Sectional got off to a great start with 12 tables contesting the open pairs. In a tight finish the winners of Strats A and B were Rachael Gosling and Craig Hutton who just edged Roman Smolski and Vera Petty into second spot. Kristina Nadarajah and Christiane Bock were the popular winners of Strat C.
Friday evening
Nine pairs competed in the 0-20 Novice game and the winners with a massive 72% game were Lorna Anderson and Margaret Kirk.
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Marsha and Jim Fraser were second on 54%.
There was a huge turnout of 37 pairs for the two-session Stratified Open Pairs that required the field to be split into two sections for the first time in living memory!
When the dust had settled, the leaders in the open field were Craig Hutton and Steve Ball, followed by Bill Tucker and Kevin Comeau with Freya and Simon Giffen in third.
Saturday
The Safeguard Open Pairs was contested over two sessions on Saturday with a field of 27 pairs. The winners in the open field were Charles Hall and Joe Wakefield with 389.5 matchpoints with Roman Smolski and Vera Petty second on 381.7. Elizabeth McKee and Lisa Burland had two excellent sessions to finish third with 373.3 winning Strat B by a distance. Winners of Strat C and second in B were Annabella Fraser and Barrie McKay on 323.9.
Sunday
Sixteen teams contested the Gosling Swiss Teams and it was great to see Sally and David Sykes playing at the club again following Sally's illness. Eight seven-board matches were played and the winners with 112 victory points were Alan Douglas, Jack Rhind, David Cordon and John Burville.
Second on 106 VPs were David and Sally Sykes with Roman Smolski and Vera Petty. Third place with 102 VPs went to Phil Shadick, Steve Ball and Michael and Michelle Alexander (visitors from the UK).
The team of Richard and Wendy Gray, Steve Cosham and Cliff Alison won Fight B in a canter with 97 VPs
whilst Gill Gray, Judy King, Deb Randall and Greg Carey were comfortable winners in Flight C with 75 VPs.
Monday afternoon
This 23 pair event was won by Roman Smolski and Vera Petty with a huge 71% game.
Richard and Wendy Gray won Strat B
and Ann Proctor and Sally Godet prevailed in Strat C.
Monday evening
Prior to the game, visiting professional McKenzie Myers gave an excellent instructional talk for the benefit of our novice and improving players.
There was a great turn out of 12 pairs for the second novice game of the Sectional and the winners again were Lorna Anderson and Margaret Kirk with a 64.38% game, pipping Diana Downs and Marion Ezedinma with 64.23%. No one deserves to lose by such a small margin!
The final session of the Open Pairs saw Michael Bickley and Harry Kast prevail in a tight finish with 251.62 matchpoints closely followed by Craig Hutton and Steve Ball on 250.29 with Audrey Smith and Lyn O'Neill hot on their heels with 249.71.
Strat B winners were Linda and Bill Pollett on 246.99
with Donna and Jim Leitch winning Strat C on 227.36.
The evening concluded with the prize presentation excellently orchestrated by Tournament Coordinator Craig Hutton assisted by ACBL President Sheena Rayner. 
Photographs courtesy of Judy King - click here to view some more!