This year it was decided that the start would alternate for each of the two Border Challenge teams, and that the team captain who drew out the letter closest to A would decide which team started. To my dismay, I drew the Z out of the bag, enabling Geoff to force the start on the NSW team of 10. This of course meant that the Vics would have the advantage in then last and potentially crucial final round.
As it turned out, the final round was an anticlimax, with Victoria having the event stitched up at the end of Round 9. A brief rally in Round 8 in which NSW had won 7 of the 10 games gave as some hope, but this was snuffed out with a convincing performance by Victoria in Round 9.
Going into Round 9, the Victorian captain in Geoff Wright was unbeaten, but the Wollongong duo of Wilma Vialle and Rod Talbot inflicted consecutive losses on Geoff. This enabled the late inclusion and Kenyan player, Cecilia Ruto to sneak past him and take the individual honours. It was a good thing Victoria did not have David Lloyd and Saheed Jimoh in their team as well!
Despite top players on both sides being absent, there was no lack of enthusiasm on both sides and it was resolved the next Challenge would be in August 2001.
In the Open Division Mum Richards put on a convincing display to win all but one game. An eleventh game was played in that Division when it was discovered we were nearly an hour a head of schedule. The ubiquitous and stocky Richard Birch snared the high word score for the entire tournament with STOCKIER, for a mere 176 points.
Special thanks go to Wilma and Ros Gibbons for preparing tournament booklets and player labels for the wall chart, and devising a distributing the tournament draw. And of course to Geoff Wright for bringing the swivel boards, and rounding up enough good players to inflict a third consecutive defeat on NSW (Victoria 55 wins, NSW 45 wins).
Results after game 10
BORDER CHALLENGE OPEN -- CHALLENGE
Rank Player Wins Mar
---------------------------------
1 Cecilia Ruto 8 567
2 Geoff Wright 8 205
3 Bob Jackman 7 941
4 Kerry Constable 7 406
5 Wilma Vialle 7 151
6 Sal Costanzo 6 255
7 Jim Warmington 6 130
8 Dianne Davis 6 -7
9 John Barker 5 185
10 Nan Smith 5 95
11 Rod Talbot 5 -19
12 Gwen Chadwick 5 -301
13 Gwen Lampre 4 -34
14 Cristine Small 4 -81
15 Margaret Warmington 4 -171
16 Graeme Lock Lee 3 -139
17 Alison Pollard 3 -245
18 Zina Costanzo 3 -617
19 Gary Pollard 2 -639
20 Peter Sheehan 2 -682
HIGH GAME: Bob Jackman 584
Results after game 11
BORDER CHALLENGE OPEN -- OPEN
Rank Player Wins Mar
---------------------------------
1 Karen Richards 10 823
2 Liz Jackman 7 461
3 Pat Kennedy 7 358
4 Paul Richards 7 297
5 Ros Gibbons 7 172
6 June Hodgson 7 38
7 Michael Adler 6 429
8 Sunny Wright 6 192
9 Richard Birch 6 122
10 Jean Balmer 6 99
11 Beverley Sell 5.5 -44
12 Christine Foot 5 127
13 Mary Craven 5 118
14 Heather Sorenson 5 -33
15 Ann Fiddler 5 -101
16 Daphne Bezuidenhout 5 -250
17 Alastair Richards 5 -312
18 Merriss Adler 2.5 -575
19 Jeanette Rosetta (N) 1.5 -863
20 Chris Horsley (N) 1.5 -1058
HIGH GAME: Liz Jackman 507
HIGH WORD: Richard Birch 176
"STOCKIER"
Stats for Tournament : BORDER CHALLENGE OPEN
+--------------------------+-----------+---------+-----------+---------------+
| state Name | National | State | Wins | Rating Points |
| | Old New | Old New | Exp Act | Old Change New|
+--------------------------+-----------+---------+-----------+---------------+
Section: *CHALLENGE + + + +
+--------------------------------------+---------+-----------+---------------+
| VIC Cecilia Ruto | 17 14 | 9 9 | 6.9 8.0 | 1764 +22 1786 |
| VIC Geoff Wright | 20 18 | 12 10 | 6.7 8.0 | 1738 +28 1766 |
| NSW Bob Jackman | 6 6 | 2 2 | 8.1 7.0 | 1889 -18 1871 |
| NSW Kerry Constable :act | 97 57 | 28 16 | 3.7 7.0 | 1521 +75 1596 |
| NSW Wilma Vialle | 43 35 | 12 9 | 5.2 7.0 | 1635 +36 1671 |
| VIC Sal Costanzo | 81 64 | 41 34 | 4.3 6.0 | 1546 +34 1580 |
| VIC Jim Warmington | 31 30 | 20 19 | 6.2 6.0 | 1695 -2 1693 |
| VIC Dianne Davis | 100 77 | 52 40 | 4.0 6.0 | 1515 +41 1556 |
| NSW John Barker | 36 36 | 9 10 | 5.8 5.0 | 1680 -16 1664 |
| VIC Nan Smith | 133 115 | 62 57 | 3.3 5.0 | 1462 +33 1495 |
| NSW Rod Talbot | 22 28 | 8 8 | 6.4 5.0 | 1725 -28 1697 |
| VIC Gwen Chadwick | 35 37 | 22 21 | 6.0 5.0 | 1683 -19 1664 |
| VIC Gwen Lampre | 27 38 | 17 22 | 6.3 4.0 | 1706 -45 1661 |
| NSW Cristine Small | 74 78 | 24 24 | 4.2 4.0 | 1561 -5 1556 |
| VIC Margaret Warmington | 50 63 | 29 33 | 5.1 4.0 | 1607 -21 1586 |
| NSW Alison Pollard :act | 149 147 | 43 42 | 2.8 3.0 | 1438 +5 1443 |
| NSW Graeme Lock Lee | 37 47 | 10 13 | 5.7 3.0 | 1672 -54 1618 |
| VIC Zina Costanzo | 134 139 | 63 65 | 3.3 3.0 | 1462 -7 1455 |
| NSW Peter Sheehan | 73 100 | 23 28 | 4.2 2.0 | 1561 -45 1516 |
| NSW Gary Pollard | 222 219 | 56 55 | 1.7 2.0 | 1317 +7 1324 |
+-------------------------------------+---------+-----------+----------------+
+Section: *OPEN + + + +
+--------------------------------------+---------+-----------+---------------+
| SA Karen Richards | 128 117 | 7 7 | 9.1 10.0 | 1471 +19 1490 |
| VIC Pat Kennedy | 197 206 | 86 88 | 7.9 7.0 | 1362 -18 1344 |
| SA Paul Richards | 201 211 | 13 15 | 8.2 7.0 | 1355 -22 1333 |
| NSW Liz Jackman | 301 293 | 77 77 | 6.5 7.0 | 1174 +11 1185 |
| NSW Ros Gibbons | 229 226 | 58 57 | 6.7 7.0 | 1305 +6 1311 |
| VIC June Hodgson | 467 388 | 158 142 | 2.7 7.0 | 930 +106
1036 |
| NSW Richard Birch | 242 264 | 62 71 | 8.5 6.0 | 1276 -49 1227 |
| NSW Jean Balmer | 320 307 | 81 78 | 4.8 6.0 | 1140 +24 1164 |
| NSW Michael Adler :act | 274 292 | 74 76 | 7.4 6.0 | 1213 -26 1187 |
| NSW Sunny Wright | 452 444 | 108 106 | 5.8 6.0 | 949 +6 955 |
| NSW Bev Sell :act | 375 380 | 90 90 | 5.8 5.5 | 1060 -7 1053 |
| NSW Christine Foot :act | 227 253 | 57 65 | 8.3 5.0 | 1309 -65 1244 |
| NSW Ann Fiddler | 461 441 | 110 104 | 3.9 5.0 | 937 +23 960 |
| NSW Mary Craven :act | 474 463 | 115 111 | 4.3 5.0 | 925 +13 938 |
| NSW Heather Sorensen :ac | 638 608 | 158 151 | 3.7 5.0 | 758 +27 785 |
| NSW Daphne Bezuidenhout | 327 358 | 82 86 | 7.4 5.0 | 1129 -47 1082 |
| SA Alastair Richards | 835 762 | 74 61 | 1.5 5.0 | 547 +79 626 |
| NSW Merriss Adler :act | 860 850 | 219 217 | 1.5 2.5 | 511 +20 531 |
|*NSW Jeanette Rosetta | 0 869 | 0 223 | 2.8 1.5 | 500 500 |
|*NSW Chris Horsley | 0 913 | 0 232 | 2.8 1.5 | 500 -40 460 |
+-------------------------------------+---------+-----------+----------------+