Countdown in King's Lynn (Co:KL) - Saturday 27th May

Discussion and announcements relating to unofficial Countdown competitions, held online or in real life. Observation, discussion, reflection, and other stuff ending in -ion.
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Mike Brown
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Countdown in King's Lynn (Co:KL) - Saturday 27th May

Post by Mike Brown »

Hi all,

It's finally time (eight days later than last year!) for me to announce the third Countdown in King's Lynn (or Co:KL for short), which once more will form part of the FOCAL calendar of events.

For those of you who are still not aware (even after last year), King's Lynn is a town on the Wash in the west of Norfolk and is the birthplace of Captain Vancouver, who gave his name to the rather larger metropolis of Vancouver in the west of Canada. It used to be called Bishop's Lynn (or Lynn Episcopi if you're a Latin speaker) until 1204, when King John decided he'd name it after himself.* Since last year's Co:KL, King's Lynn has decided to put up a statue in his honour, which is a slightly controversial choice, given his track record. Anyway, it's a very nice statue and well worth a look.

This year's event is taking place on Saturday 27th of May (i.e. the bank holiday weekend) and like last year (and the year before) will be a Lincoln/Edinburgh-style tournament, with everyone playing six 9-round games followed by a 15-round grand final for the top two players at the end of the day. The official arbiter for any word disputes on the day will be the Apterous word list, unless Oxford Dictionaries Online sorts itself out and becomes fully usable again.

Again like last year, proceedings will take place on the top floor of Thoresby College (aka The Great Hall) on the South Quay. We will have access to the kitchen on the ground floor, so free tea, coffee and soft drinks will be provided, as well as a few home-made cakes, unless I upset my better half shortly beforehand. The college is only a few minutes' walk from the town centre and there will be plenty of time for anyone to go and buy a sandwich or pop into a cafe for lunch, or maybe even to indulge in a spot of retail therapy.

Unfortunately, the car parking at the venue is not for our use (it's reserved for residents), but there is reasonably priced car parking nearby (Boal Quay (PE30 5AA) is probably the cheapest and most convenient for all-day parking). For lovers of nicotine, please note there is no smoking anywhere on the premises (including the courtyard and car park). More details of the building and its facilities can be found at http://www.klprestrust.org.uk. The postcode for the college is PE30 1HX, but be warned the postal address is not the same as the entrance to the hall, which can be found on the quay (west) side the building.

King's Lynn has a very good rail service to London (taking around 100 minutes) and a reasonable rail service to other parts of the country. If you're thinking of coming by rail, but not via Cambridge or London, it might be worth investigating travelling to Peterborough and then bussing it to King's Lynn (service X1) as the journey time may be shorter and may also cost you less if booking advance tickets - PM me if you need further details.

Despite what Jeremy Clarkson may have said in the past (and probably the late A.A. Gill), the road network does reach King's Lynn and is served by the A10, A17 and A47, although if you're expecting to see a motorway, you'll have a long wait!

There are various places to stay locally, including a brand new Travelodge (although it's not mega-central, being about a 15-minute walk into the town) (https://www.travelodge.co.uk/hotels/613 ... Lynn-hotel), a Premier Inn (which is effectively in the middle of nowhere unless you have access to a car) and some very nice privately-run guest houses and B&B's. You can also stay at the Globe Hotel, which is very reasonable and also happens to house the Wetherspoon's that seems to have become the de facto pre- and post-event pub. Unfortunately, the Maid's Head, which several entrants went to in 2015, has just changed hands and at the time of writing no longer seems to be serving food.

I can recommend the local area if you fancy staying for a day or two afterwards. The Norfolk coast is outstanding, especially if you enjoy seeing wildlife or strolling along windswept beaches. It's also not far from Sandringham House, which has some lovely woods which are free to stroll around - you can even see the sea! (Well, the Wash anyway, if that counts).

The entrance fee for the day remains at last year's rate of £12 and you can pay me by PayPal in the usual way at mike@mjbrown.demon.co.uk. Those of you who would prefer to pay by cheque can do so by sending me a PM and I'll then let you know my snail-mail address.

* I've since realised that it was actually called Bishop's Lynn until the reign of Henry VIII, but why let the facts get in the way of a nice segue into a piece about the new statue?

The timetable for the day is likely to be the same as last year, which is as follows:

10.30 Doors open
11.15 Welcome / Round 1 Draw announced.
11.30 Round 1
12.50 Lunch
13.50 Round 2
15.10 Break
15.25 Round 3
16.45 Break
17.05 Grand Final (15 rounds)
17.30 Prizegiving
18.00 End / down the pub!

I look forward to seeing some of you there!

Mike.

CONFIRMED ENTRANTS:

1 Aidan Linge
2 Ben Wilson
3 Jen Steadman
4 Graeme Cole
5 Gavin Chipper
6 Tom Cappleman
7 Stephen Read
8 James Robinson
9 Jayne Wisniewski
10 Stewart Gordon
11 Rob Foster
and me.
Gavin Chipper
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Re: Countdown in King's Lynn (Co:KL) - Saturday 27th May

Post by Gavin Chipper »

In. I'm staying at The Globe (just the Friday night) and going to the parkrun on the Saturday morning.
Stephen R
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Re: Countdown in King's Lynn (Co:KL) - Saturday 27th May

Post by Stephen R »

I've talked myself into it again. Making an early birthday weekend of it, and I'll join in the parkrun too. See if I can go a bit faster this year.
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Mike Brown
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Re: Countdown in King's Lynn (Co:KL) - Saturday 27th May

Post by Mike Brown »

Stephen R wrote: Tue May 02, 2017 1:04 pm I've talked myself into it again. Making an early birthday weekend of it, and I'll join in the parkrun too. See if I can go a bit faster this year.
Great news, Stephen. Good to have the reigning champ back!
Gavin Chipper
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Re: Countdown in King's Lynn (Co:KL) - Saturday 27th May

Post by Gavin Chipper »

I'm planning to get a train that gets into King's Lynn at 17:24 today. Is anyone else going to be around?
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Graeme Cole
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Re: Countdown in King's Lynn (Co:KL) - Saturday 27th May

Post by Graeme Cole »

Here are the results. All games were 9-rounders except the final, which was 15 rounds. The final was between the two previous Co:KL winners, Stephen Read and Rob Foster. Rob won the final 109-73 to win Co:KL 2017 and effectively the Co:KL Championship of Champions.

Many thanks to Mike for putting the event together.


STANDINGS

Players are ranked by wins, then points.

Code: Select all

                        P   W  Pts
  1 Rob Foster          6   6  411 
  2 Stephen Read        6   4  401 
  3 James Robinson      6   4  380 
  4 Jen Steadman        6   4  363 
  5 Tom Cappleman       6   4  340 
  6 Graeme Cole         6   3  364 
  7 Mike Brown          6   3  318 
  8 Toby Pereira        6   2  280 
  9 Stewart Gordon      6   2  251 
 10 Jayne Wisniewski    6   2  235 
 11 Aidan Linge         6   2  227 
 12 Apterous Prune      6   0    0 
RESULTS

Round 1

Table 1
Graeme Cole 54 - 71 Jen Steadman
Jen Steadman 61 - 50 Mike Brown
Mike Brown 37 - 67 Graeme Cole

Table 2
Jayne Wisniewski 65 - 57 Toby Pereira
Toby Pereira 50 - 37 Stewart Gordon
Stewart Gordon 60 - 41 Jayne Wisniewski

Table 3
Rob Foster 61 - 44 Tom Cappleman
Tom Cappleman 63 - 64 James Robinson
James Robinson 64 - 74 Rob Foster

Table 4
Aidan Linge 46 - 0 Apterous Prune
Apterous Prune 0 - 94 Stephen Read
Stephen Read 55 - 35 Aidan Linge

Round 2

Table 1
Rob Foster 60 - 38 Jen Steadman
Jen Steadman 58 - 62 Stephen Read
Stephen Read 74 - 84 Rob Foster

Table 2
Graeme Cole 73 - 22 Toby Pereira
Toby Pereira 46 - 68 James Robinson
James Robinson 61 - 53 Graeme Cole

Table 3
Aidan Linge 23 - 51 Tom Cappleman
Tom Cappleman 61 - 17 Jayne Wisniewski
Jayne Wisniewski 50 - 34 Aidan Linge

Table 4
Mike Brown 59 - 0 Apterous Prune
Apterous Prune 0 - 53 Stewart Gordon
Stewart Gordon 18 - 55 Mike Brown

Round 3

Table 1
James Robinson 59 - 63 Mike Brown
Mike Brown 54 - 62 Stephen Read
Stephen Read 54 - 64 James Robinson

Table 2
Graeme Cole 68 - 32 Jayne Wisniewski
Jayne Wisniewski 30 - 62 Rob Foster
Rob Foster 70 - 49 Graeme Cole

Table 3
Stewart Gordon 34 - 46 Aidan Linge
Aidan Linge 43 - 82 Jen Steadman
Jen Steadman 53 - 49 Stewart Gordon

Table 4
Toby Pereira 66 - 0 Apterous Prune
Apterous Prune 0 - 69 Tom Cappleman
Tom Cappleman 52 - 39 Toby Pereira
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Mike Brown
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Re: Countdown in King's Lynn (Co:KL) - Saturday 27th May

Post by Mike Brown »

Graeme Cole wrote: Sat May 27, 2017 9:52 pm Many thanks to Mike for putting the event together.
And many thanks again for making it technically fabulous. :)
Gavin Chipper
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Re: Countdown in King's Lynn (Co:KL) - Saturday 27th May

Post by Gavin Chipper »

A bit late, but awesome event, Mike!

I just wanted to mention that there was some controversy over some of the conundrums, because the answers were a verb + S, and there was some debate over whether they are allowed or whether it's only plurals that end in S that can't be conundrums. My understanding was that the verbs were valid, even if they are never actually used, either on the show or on Apterous. (I'd actually previously thought of setting such conundrums myself if I ever ran a CO event, just to be difficult.)

Anyway, I only found a small amount of discussion on this forum about it, specifically this post and this one.
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Mike Brown
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Re: Countdown in King's Lynn (Co:KL) - Saturday 27th May

Post by Mike Brown »

Gavin Chipper wrote: Sat Jun 03, 2017 7:09 pm A bit late, but awesome event, Mike!

I just wanted to mention that there was some controversy over some of the conundrums, because the answers were a verb + S, and there was some debate over whether they are allowed or whether it's only plurals that end in S that can't be conundrums. My understanding was that the verbs were valid, even if they are never actually used, either on the show or on Apterous. (I'd actually previously thought of setting such conundrums myself if I ever ran a CO event, just to be difficult.)

Anyway, I only found a small amount of discussion on this forum about it, specifically this post and this one.
Thanks Gev. Does anyone have a copy of the current guidelines, by any chance?
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