NSW Spring Marathon October 16th 2004


It was back to Needlestick Lane, Revesby (AKA the Macarthur Room) for the annual Scrabble NSW Spring Marathon. A good supply of Sydney Morning Heralds were on hand to chock the rotating the tables, and eventually 48 players settled to play 12 20 minutes per player games of Scrabble.

Our trusty tournament director Wilma Vialle was back from her latest overseas jaunt to direct proceedings. Her sexy new red sports car seemed incongruous parked inside the barbwired gates of the venue entrance. Paul Cleary was back in the melee for a Trans Tasman warm up after a six months absence. David Edmunds, a student from Macquari Uni with online experience, was playing his first tournament and was to go on and acquit himself admirably.

After the players who were missing from the NSW Championships were presented with their 1000 plus games badges, play commenced. I was drawn to play Liz in the first game and she immediately opened up with oVARIES which I was later able to front hook. Also in round 1, a player using an analog clock tried to claim victory by pleading ignorance. He/she thought that five minutes past the vertical meant he/she had five minutes left. Nice try!

In round 2 the last game to finish was the game between John Barker, sporting half a beard, and George Khamis. John must have had his mind elsewhere as he allowed George to extend EX to EXORTED* along the bottom triple file, then a move later George played out with TOELIKE on top of his own false word to win the game. Is that justice?

Round 4 saw two 600 plus games. Paul scored 611 against Hari Nanayakkara who was unbeaten to that point, while Chris May scored the tournament high game 641 against Sue Gergelifi.

A 40 minute lunch break was taken after Round 4 and John Barker had to return to his home for some urgent personal business. The only problem was that his Chatswood home was 35 minutes from the venue, so that by the time he returned for round 5, his clock had ticked over the 20 minutes. The new rule was invoked giving Audrey Newman the easiest she had ever had!

The afternoon’s play was most interesting at the top tables with the lead changing several times between, Edward, myself and Hari. Hari was having a great tournament, accounting for John Holgate, Edward and me in successive games. Only Chris May, who beat him twice on the day, had his measure.

The last two games of the day were pure King of the Hill. I lost to Edward for the second time of the day, while Chris beat Hari to force a play off for first place between Edward and Chris in the last game. Edward was one game clear but Chris had the superior spread.

From what I understand this was quite a game so Chris may post the details of it. Fairly early in the game, Edward played PR(EF)ECTS around an EF on the board for a non-bingo nine-timer scoring the tournament high 135 and a possible national record in that category. Chris was about 150 down but with two blanks unseen there was a glimmer of hope. After an outstanding play of OOGONIAL onto an L, he drew the two blanks out of the bag for two more bingos and ran out the winner of the game by 13 points, and the tournament.

Results after game 12

SPRING MARATHON 2004 -- OPEN

Rank  Player            Wins Mar

---------------------------------

  1   Chris May            9     1271

  2   Bob Jackman          9      765

  3   Edward Okulicz       9      623

  4   Hari Nanayakkara     9      336

  5   Peter Shaw           8      662

  6   Rene Chelton         8      361

  7   Jean McGiffen        8       57

  8   Sue Gergelifi        8      -26

  9   John Holgate         8      -60

 10   Jan Serisier         7.5     61

 11   Paul Cleary          7      686

 12   Joan Rosenthal       7      504

 13   Hanne Marks          7      153

 14   Moana Nepia          7      116

 15   Audrey Newman        7      105

 16   Susan Macgillivray   7       58

 17   Jean Balmer          7       27

 18   Sam Greenberg        6.5     74

 19   Alastair Richards    6      650

 20   Victor Tung          6      321

 21   Janine Whittaker     6      105

 22   Ann Fiddler          6       73

 23   Karen Richards       6       59

 24   Krystyna Batten      6       55

 25   Judy Hay             6       28

 26   Dolores Barbon       6      -28

 27   John Barker          6      -63

 28   David More           6     -183

 29   Cheryl Michler       6     -287

 30   David Edmunds        6     -409

 31   Rex Shakespeare      5       43

 32   Mal Ramsdale         5      -12

 33   Basil Sands          5     -126

 34   Richard Birch        5     -242

 35   Edith Lowbeer        5     -264

 36   Tony Kalayzich       5     -341

 37   Margaret Andrews     5     -376

 38   Wayne Jones          5     -427

 39   Gordon Meggs         5     -457

 40   Liz Jackman          4     -124

 41   Jenny Templeton      4     -175

 42   Jacquelin Hochmuth   4     -253

 43   Sharon Sorensen      4     -352

 44   Sunny Wright         4     -420

 45   Maree Heynen         4     -529

 46   Yvonne Edwards       3     -189

 47   George Khamis        3     -686

 48   Diana Field          2    -1164

HIGH GAME: Chris May         641

HIGH WORD: Edward Okulicz    135

            "PREFECTS"

Stats for Tournament : SPRING MARATHON 2004

+--------------------------+-----------+---------+-----------+---------------+

| state     Name           | National  | State   |   Wins    | Rating Points |

|                          | Old  New  | Old New | Exp  Act  | Old Change New|

+--------------------------+-----------+---------+-----------+---------------+

+Section: *OPEN                        +         +           +               +

+--------------------------------------+---------+-----------+---------------+

| NSW Chris May            |   10    8 |   5   5 |  8.4  9.0 | 1746 +15 1761 |

| NSW Bob Jackman          |    6    5 |   3   2 |  8.6  9.0 | 1828  +8 1836 |

| NSW Edward Okulicz :act  |    5    3 |   2   1 |  8.6  9.0 | 1840  +9 1849 |

| NSW Hari Nanayakkara     |  136   59 |  36  15 |  3.9  9.0 | 1407 +129 1536 |

| NSW Peter Shaw           |   54   46 |  14  13 |  6.2  8.0 | 1550 +38 1588 |

| NSW John Holgate         |   15   16 |   8   8 |  8.2  8.0 | 1699  -3 1696 |

| NSW Jean McGiffen        |   38   36 |  11  11 |  7.5  8.0 | 1606 +11 1617 |

| NSW Sue Gergelifi        |  131  118 |  33  34 |  6.9  8.0 | 1410 +23 1433 |

| NSW Rene Chelton         |   91   99 |  26  28 |  9.1  8.0 | 1489 -21 1468 |

| NSW Jan Serisier         |   74   82 |  19  21 |  8.0  7.5 | 1510 -10 1500 |

| NSW Paul Cleary          |    3    6 |   1   3 |  9.7  7.0 | 1865 -41 1824 |

| NSW Joan Rosenthal       |   11   14 |   6   7 |  8.6  7.0 | 1731 -32 1699 |

| NSW Moana Nepia          |   59   72 |  15  18 |  8.5  7.0 | 1539 -30 1509 |

| NSW Susan MacGillivr :ac |  137  112 |  37  32 |  5.0  7.0 | 1406 +39 1445 |

| NSW Jean Balmer          |  259  221 |  60  48 |  4.1  7.0 | 1272 +57 1329 |

| NSW Hanne Marks          |  152  141 |  41  39 |  6.6  7.0 | 1394 +10 1404 |

| NSW Audrey Newman        |  112  113 |  31  33 |  6.8  7.0 | 1439  +4 1443 |

| NSW Sam Greenberg        |  271  257 |  64  61 |  5.4  6.5 | 1260 +22 1282 |

| QLD Alastair Richards    |   84  108 |   7   9 |  8.5  6.0 | 1499 -48 1451 |

| NSW Victor Tung          |   73   94 |  18  26 |  8.1  6.0 | 1512 -38 1474 |

| NSW Ann Fiddler          |  417  375 | 101  92 |  3.6  6.0 | 1062 +48 1110 |

| QLD Karen Richards       |   64   81 |   5   6 |  7.4  6.0 | 1529 -27 1502 |

| NSW John Barker          |   60   92 |  16  25 |  9.0  6.0 | 1535 -59 1476 |

| NSW Dolores Barbon       |  360  324 |  89  78 |  4.1  6.0 | 1133 +40 1173 |

| NSW Judy Hay             |  291  278 |  66  66 |  5.0  6.0 | 1232 +20 1252 |

| NSW Janine Whittaker     |  503  411 | 124 102 |  1.7  6.0 |  968 +103 1071 |

| NSW Krystyna Batten      |  474  437 | 118 108 |  3.9  6.0 | 1000 +41 1041 |

| NSW Cheryl Michler       |  295  286 |  68  67 |  5.2  6.0 | 1225 +15 1240 |

| NSW David More           |  338  358 |  83  87 |  7.3  6.0 | 1161 -25 1136 |

|*NSW David Edmunds        |    0  243 |   0  55 |  6.0  6.0 | 1295     1295 |

| NSW Rex Shakespeare      |  294  316 |  67  76 |  7.0  5.0 | 1226 -40 1186 |

| NSW Richard Birch        |  176  239 |  44  54 |  8.5  5.0 | 1372 -70 1302 |

| NSW Mal Ramsdale         |  371  365 |  90  89 |  4.7  5.0 | 1116  +5 1121 |

| NSW Wayne Jones          |  528  503 | 130 128 |  3.9  5.0 |  940 +34  974 |

| NSW Tony Kalayzich       |  444  409 | 107 101 |  3.0  5.0 | 1034 +39 1073 |

| NSW Gordon Meggs         |  378  378 |  93  94 |  5.0  5.0 | 1103  +1 1104 |

| NSW Basil Sands          |  672  600 | 171 152 |  2.4  5.0 |  835 +51  886 |

| NSW Margaret Andrews     |  328  360 |  80  88 |  7.0  5.0 | 1168 -40 1128 |

| NSW Edith Lowbeer        |  512  497 | 128 126 |  4.0  5.0 |  961 +19  980 |

| NSW Jenny Templeton      |  339  371 |  84  90 |  6.1  4.0 | 1158 -43 1115 |

| NSW Jacquelin Hochmuth   |  379  397 |  94  99 |  4.8  4.0 | 1102 -17 1085 |

| NSW Liz Jackman          |  333  391 |  82  97 |  7.8  4.0 | 1165 -77 1088 |

| NSW Sharon Sorensen      |  297  333 |  69  82 |  6.9  4.0 | 1223 -57 1166 |

| NSW Sunny Wright         |  507  499 | 127 127 |  3.4  4.0 |  964 +13  977 |

| NSW Maree Heynen         |  641  627 | 162 157 |  3.6  4.0 |  853  +8  861 |

| NSW Yvonne Edwards       |  639  693 | 160 178 |  4.6  3.0 |  854 -32  822 |

| NSW George Khamis        |  382  407 |  95 100 |  4.3  3.0 | 1100 -26 1074 |

| NSW Diana Field          | 1212 1204 | 344 342 |  0.7  2.0 |  501 +26  527 |