Our Chair George Armstrong reports back following FOCAL’s first ever triple-header

The two months between FOCAL Finals/Open and COLIN always feels like an eternity, so naturally despite the cold and wet weather, cancelled trains and jam-packed motorways, we were all itching to get back into the groove for 2025.

We kicked things off on Friday night with our first ever COLIN Predrinks tournament. Along with host Ben, 36 brave souls buckled in for their first of three outings. A strong standard all round, as 4 players finished the day undefeated – Jack Hurst, Eddy Byrne (who missed out on the final by a single point), Callum Todd and Thomas Cappleman. Callum managed to eek ahead in the final, spotting DODGEMS from ODMSGEEWD, before neither could unscramble FMEMORIAL for ORIFLAMME, as Callum claimed the first trophy off the weekend. Then it was off to the social club for a few drinks and games.

Saturday kicked off with a handful of the group driving down to Newark to take part in their parkrun (If you can’t guess why they went to Newark, you might need to brush up on your anagrams…). When COLIN first started in 2005, not many would’ve guessed that it’d still be going all these years later. Alongside Ben, Jeff Clayton and Anthony Endsor were present both then and now, but several others from back in the day were unable to make it. However, as a surprise and thank you to Ben, Jeff got a selection of the 2005 players to record some short thank you and memory segments, which was shown during the day. After 6 heat games, it was Thomas who found himself in the final again, this time alongside Jack Hurst. Thomas was able to make up for the night before, winning 73-39. Then it was back to the social club for more fun, including a classic James Robinson darts tourney, which even some of the locals joined in with.

If two days of Countdown (and two nights of drinking) wasn’t enough for some, the hardcores came back out on Sunday for a third crack at the whip. Jack once again made the final, but narrowly lost out to Dylan Taylor 66-55, claiming his first tournament win since the Hangover way back in 2019. Even just going back through this weekend might tire some folk out. I’ll leave you with Ben’s sign off from the weekend:

“Congrats to all the winners from the weekend, and many thanks to everyone who came along and made it the event it is- Adam for his assistance both behind the scenes with the puzzle mag, Jeff for his awesome quiz and even more awesome video tribute (which still makes me smile :) ), to George, MSR and Sam for being awesome final hosts, to Graeme for his software making everything easy, and to everyone for coming along and making COLIN the event it’s been for the past twenty years (I’m sure I’ve forgotten someone somewhere). I’m now going to sleep for about the next 4 months. See you at COLIN XXI!”

Now it’s time for a brief rest for the rest of us before we reconvene for CO:Liverpool on February 15^th. See you there?…