Players have come from both Europe and North America to play in the Bermuda Bridge Regional, which got off to a great start on Saturday at the Fairmont Southampton, despite inclement weather which left many participants temporarily stranded at airports on the US East Coast.

The first event of the competition, the charity pairs, was won by Bermuda?s David and Sally Sykes, closely followed by Alan Douglas and Joe Wakefield.

Flight B of the same event saw local players winning five of the top six spots with Stephanie and Eddie Kyme in first place followed by the partnerships of Diana Diel/Eileen Sharpe; Judy and Gordon Bussell in second and third place and Jane Smith / Gertie Barker and Lynanne Bolton / Stephen Ball in 5th and 6th place respectively.

Flight C of the charity pairs was won by the American pair of Betty Hodgman and Carol Davidson with local players capturing the next four places: Elizabeth McKee / Rachael Gosling ; Mark Richardson / Jeannette Shaw ; Jim and Donna Leitch ; Florin and Laura Patriciu.

Bermudians shone in the Swiss teams the following day when Alan Douglas, Ian Harvey, David Pereira and Barry Rahman won a closely fought battle in the A/X division with fellow countrymen Jean Johnson and Joe Wakefield who had visitors Allan Graves and Jim Linhart as their partners.

The master points he won in the Swiss teams enabled Harvey to achieve the prestigious rank of Gold Life Master in the American Contract Bridge League. He joins Vera Petty as the only Bermudians to hold this rank.

The B division winners of this event were Bermudians Gertie Barker, Jane Smith, Delmont and Marilynn Simmons. Barker achieved the rank of Bronze Life Master after the event and Marilynn Simmons Life Master, to their delight.

The D division saw local residents Gill Gray and Betty Outerbridge triumph with the help of American teammates Fraser and Roy McCrorey.

More than 300 people have registered to play in the tournament which continues until Saturday at the Fairmont Southampton.