By Callum Ludwig
Yarra Junction resident Alan Race and Kilsyth resident Geoffrey Johnson from the Yarra Valley Bridge Club have had a stellar year to date at the bridge table.
In April Mr Race and Mr Johnson finished fifth in the Australian Seniors final in Canberra against some of the top players in Australia, narrowly missing a place in the Australian Seniors Team for the World Championships.
Mr Race said he first got into bridge growing up in the UK.
“My father got me into bridge when I was a kid, and I played some relatively serious bridge up until I was about 30. I then packed up for about 36 years until I was retired, by which time I was over here and have been playing again for about five years,” he said.
“When I was playing in Leeds, there were a lot of good players around Yorkshire, including possibly the best ever English player, a chap called Tony Forester. It was a bit about being in the right place at the right time to some extent.”
Bridge is a trick-taking card game played by four players in competing duos, sitting opposite each other around a table.
Mr Race said it was a moment of hesitation that potentially cost them a World Championships place.
“We finished fifth in that and were a bit unlucky, I made a mistake. Our competitors raised an objection to it and the result got amended. If they’d allowed that contract to stand, we’d have finished third instead of fifth,” he said.
“It was a bit disappointing, to say the least, especially as the top three automatically qualified to play for Australia. “
In May they won the Victorian Seniors selection final, before representing Victoria in July in the Seniors team at the Australian Nationals in Adelaide, finishing fourth.
In October the pair will be representing Australia in the Seniors team at the Asia Cup to be held in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Mr Race said he feels fortunate to have found some good players at the Yarra Valley Bridge Club and to have the opportunity to go to the Asia Cup.
“I struck up a partnership with Jeff and I had another one before that, which is also a pretty good partnership with a chap called Martin. I started off thinking I was just going to play some bridge for a bit of fun and relaxation, and I guess you could say it has developed,” he said.
“I’m not exactly a youngster anymore, and I may not get an opportunity like this again. There’ll probably be 30 countries that go to the Asia Cup and a number of them like China, Taiwan and vietnam have some very good players.”
