On Saturday, 42 players ventured to Wollongong for the annual adrenalin-pumping Spring Marathon, an open tournament consisting of 12 40-minute games. The venue brought forth moments of nostalgia for a number of players who fondly remember many previous tournaments in the Illawarra Retirement Trust's headquarters. Rene Chelton, financial officer for the IRT relished the home ground advantage to be the only undefeated player going into round 6. But in that match she was beaten by fellow Gonger, Rod Talbot who took over the lead. The ACT's John Spaan enjoyed some fine form and led the event for a few rounds, before the experienced tile-shuffling of Bob Jackman put him into the lead in the closing stages of the tournament. The final game was Monarch of the Monolith (King of the Hill for the tradition lovers among you!) and Bob, poised on 9 wins, played Rod who had 8.5. Bob's win gave him the lucrative $250 first prize while John Barker's defeat of John Spaan catapulted the former into second place, ahead of Rod Talbot who gained third place. Jean Noonan received the prize for High Game with 530 and Bob also snared High Word with his play of OUTRIVAL for 158 points, scored against Derek McKenzie. In the ratings department, Patrick Berton (128 pts) and Liz Jackman (96 pts) took advantage of the open section to take home big increases in their ratings.
From the "Oh no! I can't believe it!" file, Kris Logan had back-to-back "misses" in two games. In the first, she decided to dump the horror letters, V U I, on her rack by playing VIRUS which gave her the very nice rack leave of ES! In the next game, she played her ADEEGNR onto a floating R - she played the non-word GANDERER. Perhaps if she'd been playing Rod Talbot (a horticulturist for those who don't know), she might have seen the playable GARDENER. Her opponent did and blocked the spot.
And in the coincidence department: I entertained myself between typing in challenges, entering results and ruling on disputes, by reading Jonathan Kellerman's "Monster". At one stage Jean Noonan brought up a challenge for the word FLEWED which had been played against her By Bob Jackman. Minutes later, I was very surprised to find the word, FLEWING* (non-word), in my book. Intrigued, I looked up FLEW and found that FLEWED is an adjective formed from the noun, FLEW which is the pendulous upper lip of a dog. In another game, Graeme Lock Lee challenged BLOODRED, again played by Bob, and just moments later I read that very word in my book! But the biggest coincidence of all had to be in the final two games. In the penultimate game Hanne Marks played Betty Foreman and they tied with 348 points apiece. Because of this tie, they were drawn to play each other in the final MOM (KOH) game and, amazingly, tied again, this time with 382 points!!
The day went very smoothly and everybody had a great time. In the aftermath (ie over a few quiet drinks at the local RSL, John Barker, Rod Talbot and Derek McKenzie agreed to have their heads shaved at an upcoming tournament to raise money for Cancer Kids. More details as they emerge but, in the meantime, any other brave souls who would like to support this cause through sponsorship of these three or by offering their pates for shaving, please contact Wilma.
Results after game 12
SPRING MARATHON 2000 -- OPEN
Rank Player Wins Mar
---------------------------------
1 Bob Jackman 10 1227
2 John Barker 9 458
3 Rod Talbot 8.5 629
4 Audrey Newman 8.5 309
5 Alison Pollard 8 411
6 John Spaan 8 122
7 Rene Chelton 8 48
8 Jan Serisier 8 -62
9 Jean McGiffen 7 735
10 Jean Noonan 7 347
11 Graeme Lock Lee 7 318
12 Derek McKenzie 7 286
13 Keith Bioletti 7 218
14 Liz Jackman 7 65
15 Ivor Zetler 7 -77
16 Gloria Gallagher 7 -220
17 Esther Perrins 6 733
18 Margaret Andrews 6 218
19 Hanne Marks 6 148
20 Peter Shaw 6 85
21 Betty Foreman 6 38
22 Jenny Templeton 6 6
23 Richard Birch 6 -11
24 Tony Hunt 6 -69
25 Patrick Berton 6 -144
26 Ros Gibbons 6 -287
27 Daphne Bezuidenhout 6 -355
28 Penny Wells 5 45
29 June Stephenson 5 -31
30 Judy Hay 5 -64
31 Edith Lowbeer 5 -356
32 Sunny Wright 5 -443
33 Natalie Tadday 5 -458
34 Cheryl Michler 4 8
35 Jean Balmer 4 -185
36 Kris Logan 4 -241
37 Gary Pollard 4 -452
38 Rex Shakespeare 4 -475
39 Chris Phillips 4 -807
40 Merle Young 3 -433
41 Louise Ready 3 -573
42 George Khamis 2 -711
HIGH GAME: Jean Noonan 530
HIGH WORD: Bob Jackman 158
"OUTRIVAL"
Stats for Tournament : SPRING MARATHON 2000
+--------------------------+-----------+---------+-----------+---------------+
| state Name | National | State | Wins | Rating Points |
| | Old New | Old New | Exp Act | Old Change New|
+--------------------------+-----------+---------+-----------+---------------+
+Section: *OPEN + + + +
+--------------------------------------+---------+-----------+---------------+
| NSW Bob Jackman | 7 6 | 3 2 | 9.3 10.0 | 1821 +12 1833 |
| NSW John Barker | 62 53 | 16 13 | 8.4 9.0 | 1588 +15 1603 |
| NSW Rod Talbot | 29 29 | 9 9 | 8.6 8.5 | 1691 1691 |
| NSW Audrey Newman | 158 113 | 42 31 | 5.1 8.5 | 1413 +75 1488 |
| NSW Alison Pollard | 210 163 | 55 44 | 5.4 8.0 | 1353 +53 1406 |
| NSW Jan Serisier | 68 77 | 18 20 | 8.6 8.0 | 1573 -10 1563 |
| NSW John Spaan :act | 122 109 | 32 29 | 6.9 8.0 | 1474 +23 1497 |
| NSW Rene Chelton | 128 103 | 34 28 | 6.1 8.0 | 1466 +41 1507 |
| NSW Jean McGiffen | 60 72 | 14 18 | 8.2 7.0 | 1591 -23 1568 |
| NSW Jean Noonan | 104 102 | 28 27 | 6.8 7.0 | 1503 +6 1509 |
| QLD Derek McKenzie | 32 39 | 3 3 | 8.6 7.0 | 1664 -31 1633 |
| NSW Keith Bioletti | 151 146 | 41 39 | 6.5 7.0 | 1431 +11 1442 |
| NSW Graeme Lock Lee | 65 63 | 17 15 | 7.1 7.0 | 1579 -1 1578 |
| NSW Gloria Gallagher | 172 147 | 48 40 | 5.3 7.0 | 1404 +35 1439 |
| NSW Ivor Zetler | 80 83 | 22 22 | 7.6 7.0 | 1549 -8 1541 |
| NSW Liz Jackman | 338 282 | 85 73 | 2.9 7.0 | 1117 +96 1213 |
| NSW Esther Perrins | 5 8 | 2 3 | 10.0 6.0 | 1860 -63 1797 |
| NSW Peter Shaw | 40 66 | 10 16 | 9.2 6.0 | 1634 -61 1573 |
| NSW Betty Foreman | 171 170 | 47 45 | 6.1 6.0 | 1404 -2 1402 |
| NSW Richard Birch | 253 254 | 62 62 | 6.3 6.0 | 1268 -3 1265 |
| NSW Margaret Andrews | 306 257 | 77 63 | 2.2 6.0 | 1168 +88 1256 |
| NSW Jenny Templeton | 228 233 | 57 58 | 6.8 6.0 | 1319 -16 1303 |
| NSW Hanne Marks | 191 196 | 51 52 | 6.7 6.0 | 1384 -10 1374 |
| NSW Tony Hunt | 399 399 | 94 94 | 5.9 6.0 | 1046 +1 1047 |
| NSW Patrick Berton | 617 475 | 151 115 | 1.0 6.0 | 816 +128 944 |
| NSW Ros Gibbons | 161 181 | 43 47 | 6.9 6.0 | 1411 -18 1393 |
| NSW Daphne Bezuidenhout | 310 290 | 78 75 | 4.5 6.0 | 1164 +33 1197 |
| NSW Penny Wells | 263 259 | 66 65 | 4.7 5.0 | 1247 +7 1254 |
| NSW Judy Hay | 162 190 | 44 50 | 6.4 5.0 | 1409 -24 1385 |
| NSW Edith Lowbeer | 468 431 | 112 101 | 2.6 5.0 | 951 +49 1000 |
| NSW June Stephenson | 320 314 | 81 80 | 4.3 5.0 | 1147 +14 1161 |
| NSW Sunny Wright | 411 424 | 97 100 | 5.8 5.0 | 1026 -13 1013 |
| NSW Natalie Tadday | 467 435 | 111 102 | 3.0 5.0 | 952 +42 994 |
| NSW Jean Balmer | 278 300 | 71 78 | 6.3 4.0 | 1220 -43 1177 |
| NSW Cheryl Michler | 101 156 | 27 41 | 9.1 4.0 | 1513 -98 1415 |
| NSW Kris Logan | 120 188 | 31 49 | 8.3 4.0 | 1475 -86 1389 |
| NSW Gary Pollard | 150 218 | 40 55 | 8.8 4.0 | 1431 -96 1335 |
| NSW Rex Shakespeare | 684 654 | 168 160 | 2.5 4.0 | 744 +30 774 |
| NSW Chris Phillips | 738 686 | 185 169 | 1.6 4.0 | 695 +47 742 |
| NSW Merle Young | 442 459 | 101 109 | 3.9 3.0 | 977 -18 959 |
| NSW Louise Ready | 620 623 | 152 153 | 3.2 3.0 | 814 -5 809 |
| NSW George Khamis | 527 584 | 130 139 | 4.6 2.0 | 901 -52 849 |
+-------------------------------------+---------+-----------+----------------+