CO:Tunbridge Wells host Gabriel Thallon fills us in on all the goings on from our latest event is Oxford

Today’s event was certainly an EPIC TREAT – the significance of that will be explained further down the page.

In pretty punishing weather conditions (thank you climate change for yet another heatwave this summer), Countdown in Oxford returned for its third year, with a very impressive turnout of 39; also pleasing was that with the style being Lincoln, it perfectly divided into 13 tables and there was no need for a Prune. The now very well-known FOCAL trinity of Darren Godfrey (Daz), Rachael Montgomery and Adam Beach (Beachy) were also ready and waiting to host everyone.

For those who would like clarification on what I mean by Lincoln (thank you Chloe Jones for the explanation), this means each of the thirteen tables of three competitors played three matches. Round 1 consisted of players drawn at random, with the seeding of the latter two rounds based on number of wins. Each game consisted of one person hosting while two competed.

Looking around at who had made it, it was clear the event was going to be tough; a notable CO:Event newbie was the recent Series 93 champion, “The Gazelle” Patrick Thompson. He was just one of many accomplished players, who had for some reason decided in brilliant sunshine, to sit indoors all day in the stifling heat 😉 and play around with letters and numbers.

The Round 1 draw was certainly a taster of things to come; a notable exciting draw pitted Jonathan De Souza, Zohaib Rehan and Dan Byrom together already, which normally you would expect in the latter rounds of most tournaments. I was with one of our TV Quiz stalwarts Dave Ryan, and Series 87 champion Ronan “The Hurricane” Higginson. Unsurprisingly, Ronan got the better of both Dave and I, and it was a good sign of things to come from Higginson today.

I did manage after a close scrap one victory against Dave; my reward after lunch (for which a few of us went to a nearby pub, which was lovely in the weather present today), was a table with recent CO:Liverpool runner-up and Series 86 champion “The History Maker” Tom Stevenson, and my old Series 85 foe and champion Dan Byrom (a few choice words were uttered when I found out this draw 😉). Perhaps though I should not have been so down; much to my surprise after those fixtures, including a double-max game against Stevenson, three wins out of four were accomplished.

Ronan and Zohaib though on paper, were the ones really setting the tempo after Round 2, and it looked like it was going to take something rather spectacular in Round 3 to deny a final between the two of them. Ronan fulfilled his end of the deal and achieved 6 wins out of 6, after a crucial conundrum against Jessica Pratesi, and a more comprehensive win against Fiona Titcombe (both Jessica and Fiona were also on 4 wins from 4 games before Round 3 started).

Zohaib though would also have to work for it, as it turned out against myself and Matthew Brockwell. In both games Zohaib was behind at the conundrum stage but spotted both very tricky solutions (the one against me was CRAPSHOOT to give an idea of the level of difficulty) to also end the heats undefeated on 6 wins out of 6. This setup a tantalising Grand Final against Ronan, for which Adam Dexter and I had the great pleasure of acting as Dictionary Corner, with Phil Stanton being our glamorous board assistant 😉.

The nine-round final was, unsurprisingly, closely fought. Higginson gained the first advantage with the excellent BORZOIS in Round 2, and no points were dropped over the next five rounds, which also saw both players spot CAVERNOUS for nine. This left the score at 56–63 heading into the final four-large numbers round. Zohaib though struck back by getting closer (865) to the solvable target of 864, tying the game at 63–63 before the EPICTREAT crucial conundrum that I hinted at earlier.

Zohaib had a punt first with a very quick buzz, and then declaration of CREPITATE. This was correct (it simply means to make a crackling sound), which meant Zohaib lifted the champions trophy with the final score at 73-63. This was his fourth CO:Event triumph from four during 2026, having already won both Rugby events in March, and my event CO:Tunbridge Wells in May.

The typical post CO:Event activities then occurred, with a quick trip to the pub for drinks then followed by an excellent dinner at La Cucina just down the road from the venue. Many of the faithful then flocked to a bar to watch England vs Norway, which ultimately had a happy ending (a shame the semi final with Argentina had the opposite a few days later).

Many thanks to Darren, Rachael and Adam for hosting a fantastic event despite the extreme heat; it was clear going around the room it was enjoyed by all. I echo the words of other bloggers in that these events are only possible through people who give up their extremely valuable spare time to make it happen.

The next event on the menu will be Birmingham hosted by our resident Vicar of Dudley MSR on the 31st July/1st August, with a quiz tournament on 2nd August too, followed by our RoboRiley expert Fiona Titcombe heading up Reading on the 15th August for those after an event further south. Here’s to the rest of the year, and hopefully cooler temperatures when we decide to next play.